this Act, nor shall any term or condition of any agreement or any other action taken under this Act, whether by agreement or otherwise, or any limitation or provision in any appropriation made pursuant to this Act, seek to control in any manner, or prescribe requirements with respect to, or authorize any department, agency, officer, or employee of the United States to direct, supervise, or control in any manner, or prescribe any requirements with respect to, the administration, the personnel, the curriculum, the instruction, the methods of instruction, or the materials of instructions, nor shall any provision of this Act be interpreted or construed to imply or require any change in any State constitution prerequisite to any State sharing the benefits of this Act. SEPARABILITY SEC. 9. If any provision of this Act or application thereof to any State, person, or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of such provision to other States, persons, or circumstances shall not be affected thereby. TERMINATION SEC. 10. The authority of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation to make grants and loans to the States under this Act shall expire on June 30, 1954. SHORT TITLE SEC. 11. This Act may be cited as the "Educational Facilities Finance Act." [S. 287, 81st Cong., 1st sess.] A BILL To provide for grants to assist the States, Territories, and dependencies in the construction of elementary and secondary schools Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives ef the United States of America in Congress assembled, TITLE I-GRANTS TO STATES FOR SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION FINDINGS AND POLICY SECTION 1. The Congress hereby determines that adequate public school facilities are essential for the welfare of the Nation; that present facilities are not commensurate with educational needs; and that Federal financial aid, taking into account the relative financial ability of the States, is necessary to provide the States with the means for undertaking appropriate surveys of the need for efficient public school plant facilities and for the construction of such facilities. ALLOTMENTS TO STATES SEC. 2. (a) In order to assist the States in the construction of public elementary and secondary school facilities, the Commissioner shall allot to the States $98,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1949, and $490,000,000 for each of the next five succeeding fiscal years as follows: (1) Each State shall be entitled for each of such fiscal years to an allotment of a sum equal to its Federal percentage of the cost of its authorized school construction program. For the purpose of this section, the cost of each State's school construction program for a fiscal year shall be deemed to be that proportion of the total program authorized for that year, which the State's school age population bears to the school age population of the United States; (2) The Federal percentages for the several States for any fiscal year shall be determined in inverse relation to their respective per capita income payments, within a range of 40 per centum of the total cost of the approved program for the State with the highest per capita income payments and 60 per centum of the total cost of the approved program for the State with the lowest per capita income payments; except that, under regulations prescribed by the Commissioner, an appropriate adjustment shall, if necessary, be made in the Federal percentages thus determined, so that the sum of the allotments to all the States will be $98,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1949, and $490,000,000 for each of the next five succeeding fiscal years. (b) The allotment to any State of its Federal percentage of the cost of construction of approved projects within the State shall be available for payment in accordance with the provisions of section 4. Sums allotted to a State for a fiscal year for construction and remaining unobligated at the end of such year shall remain available to such State for such purpose for the two fiscal years immediately succeeding such fiscal year in addition to the sum allotted for such State for such other fiscal years. (c) The cost of each State's school construction program, its Federal percentage, and its allotment for each fiscal year shall be determined and promulgated by the Commissioner between the first day of January and the first day of May of the fiscal year immediately preceding such year, and the Commissioner shall notify the Secretary of the Treasury of such allotments: Provided, That for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1949, the Commissioner shall promulgate such information as soon as possible after the enactment of this Act. (d) The Commissioner shall allot funds, in addition to those authorized in subsection (a), not to exceed $2,000,000 for the fiscal year beginning January 1, 1949, and $10,000,000 for each of the next five succeeding fiscal years to Alaska, Hawaii, the Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and Guam according to their respective needs for additional funds for the construction of public elementary and secondary schools, upon the basis of joint agreements made with their respective State agencies. STATE PLANS SEC. 3. (a) Any State desiring to take advantage of this title may submit, through its State agency, a State plan for carrying out the purposes of this title. Such State plan shall (1) designate such State agency as the sole State agency responsible for administering or supervising the administration of the plan throughout the State; (2) contain satisfactory evidence that the State agency will have authority to carry out such plan in conformity with this title; (3) set forth, on the basis of a State-wide inventory of existing schools and school facilities and a survey of the need for additional schools and facilities, a six-year school facilities construction program, or set forth principles and standards for the development of such a program, which will afford adequate educational opportunities below college grade to the children and youth of the State; (4) set forth (A) the amounts of State funds, if any, which will be available for assistance to local school agencies in providing public school plant facilities, and (B) principles which will govern the distribution of such State funds and of the Federal funds made available to the State under the authority of this Act, preferably giving special consideration to local school administrative units with relatively low financial resources and areas especially affected by Federal military installations and other Federal activities; (5) provide that the State agency will establish such fiscal-control and fundaccounting procedures, both for the State agency and for school agencies undertaking approved projects, as may be necessary, to assure proper disbursement and accounting for Federal funds under this Act and to assure proper application of non-Federal funds used in connection therewith; (6) provide for affording to every local school agency within the State applying for a project grant an opportunity for hearing before the State agency; and (7) provide that the State agency will make such reports to the Commissioner as are reasonably necessary to enable the Commissioner to perform his responsibilities under this Act and give to the Commissioner upon request access to the records upon which such information is based for the purpose of assuring the correctness and verification of such reports. (b) The Commissioner shall approve any State plan and any modification thereof which complies with the provision of subsection (a) but shall not finally disapprove any State plan or modification thereof without first affording to the State agency reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing. A final decision of the Commissioner refusing to approve a State plan or modification thereof shall be subject to judicial review in accordance with the provisions of section 302 (b). GRANTS FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS SEC. 4. (a) For each project for construction of a school facility pursuant to a State plan approved under section 3 there shall be submitted to the State agency, on such form or forms as may be prescribed by the State agency after consultation with the Commissioner, an application by the school agency proposing to undertake such project. Such application shall contain or be supported by (1) a description of the project and the site therefor and such other information relating to the project as may be required by the State agency; (2) reasonable assurance that the applicant has, or will have, (Á) title to the site, or (B) the right to construct upon such a site a school facility as specified in the application and to maintain such school facility on such site for a period of not less than twenty years after the completion of construction; (3) assurance that no contract will be let or actual building commenced until the drawings and specifications for the project have been submitted to the State agency, and have been approved by the State agency as technically adequate in their structural, mechanical, and engineering aspects, as determined in accordance with what is generally accepted as good practice in these fields; (4) assurance that the applicant has legal authority to undertake the construction of the project and to finance it as proposed, and that adequate funds to defray the non-Federal share of the cost of construction of the project will be available when needed; (5) an estimate of the cost, reasonably reflecting the probable actual cost of the project; (6) assurance that the applicant, in undertaking, constructing, and financing the project will comply with all applicable local, State, and Federal laws and with the applicable requirements of the approved State plan, and that the applicant will cause work on the project to be commenced within a reasonable time and prosecuted with reasonable diligence. (b) If the project application is in conformity with the provisions of the State plan approved under section 3 and with the requirements of subsection (a), and the State's Federal percentage (used in computing the allotment chargeable with the grant) of the cost of construction of the project is within the limits of the allotments remaining available to the State, the State agency shall approve the application and certify its approval to the Commissioner. (c) No approval under subsection (b) shall be finally denied until the State agency has afforded to the project applicant reasonable notice and opportunity for hearing. The final decision of the State agency shall be subject to judiciał review, in accordance with the provisions of section 302 (b). (d) Upon approval of a project application by the State agency and its certification to the Commissioner, pursuant to subsection (b), the Commissioner shall approve the application if it is in accord with the provisions of this Act. The State's Federal percentage (used in computing the allotment chargeable with the grant) of the actual cost of construction of the project shall, upon such approval, constitute a contractual obligation of the Federal Government, and the State and project applicant shall respectively be contractually obligated to perform the undertakings assumed by them in the application and perform the obligations specified with respect to them in this section. (e) Upon receipt of the State agency's certification of its approval of an application under this section and a determination by the Commissioner that it is in accord with the provisions of this Act, the Commissioner shall certify to the Secretary of the Treasury a grant equal to the Federal percentage (used in computing the allotment chargeable with the grant) of the estimated cost of construction of the project and designate the allotment to be charged. From the sums appropriated therefor, the Secretary of the Treasury shall, prior to audit and settlement by the General Accounting Office, pay to the State agency for redistribution in accordance with subsection (g), the amount of such grant: Provided, That if the State is not authorized, under the law of the State in force at the time such payment is due, to receive and disburse such Federal funds through the State agency, the amount of such grant shall with the consent of the State agency be certified for payment and paid directly to the project applicant: Provided further, That if the Commissioner has ground to believe that a default with respect to the assurances contained in the project application has occurred requiring action pursuant to section 302 (a), he may, upon giving notice of hearing pursuant to such subsection, withhold certification of any installment pending action based on such hearing. (f) Amendment of any approved project application shall be subject to the same procedures as an original application. Certification of a grant under subsection (e) may be amended either upon approval of an amendment of the application or upon revision of the estimated cost of the project. An amended certification of a grant pursuant to subsection (e) may direct that any additional payment be made from any then available allotment, whether or not such allotment was available at the time of original certification. The State shall be obligated to repay to the Federal Government any sum received by it with respect to a project in excess of the amount of the grant as last revised pursuant to an amended certification. (g) The funds paid under this section for the construction of approved projects shall be used solely for carrying out projects within any State approved under this section, but such funds shall be allocated by the State agency, and if received by it shall be disbursed by it, for such projects in accordance with the provisions contained in the approved State plan in conformity with the requirements of section 3 (a) (4), notwithstanding any difference between (1) the Federal percentage of the cost of the total program within the State and (2) the amount of Federal funds allocated by the State agency to projects of school agencies as authorized by the State plan. (h) If any project with respect to which a Federal grant has been established under this section is terminated or abandoned or not completed within such reasonable period as may be determined in accordance with the regulations adopted by the Commissioner, the State shall be liable to repay to the United States, to the credit of the appropriation originally charged therewith, the amount of the Federal grant established and paid pursuant to subsection (e) with respect to such project (regardless of whether any part of the Federal grant was actually allocated thereto by the State upon its receipt). TITLE II-GRANTS TO STATES FOR ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION PROGRAMS GRANTS TO STATES SEC. 201. (a) There shall be paid to each State for each fiscal year during which it has in effect a school construction plan approved under section 3, an amount equal to the Federal percentage of the total of the sums expended by the State agency during such fiscal year and found by the Commissioner to be necessary for the proper and efficient administration of the State plan, which amount shall be used for paying the costs of administering the State plan by the State agency: Provided, That with respect to not more than the first twelve months after the enactment of this Act, there shall be paid to each State, upon application by the State agency and in advance of submittal or approval of a State plan, an amount equal to the Federal percentage of the total of the sums expended by the State agency for such period and found necessary by the Commissioner for inventorying existing schools, making surveys of the need for construction of additional schools, and preparing a State school construction plan for submission under section 3. (b) The method of computing and paying such amounts shall be as follows: (1) The Commissioner shall, prior to the beginning of each period for which a payment is to be made to the State under subsection (a), estimate the amount to be paid to such State for such period, such estimate to be based on (A) a report filed by the State containing its estimate of the total sum to be expended in such period in accordance with the provisions of such subsection and stating the amount appropriated or made available by the State for such expenditures in such period and, if the sum of such amount and the estimated Federal grant to be paid the State under subsection (a) is less than the total sum of such estimated expenditures, the source from which the difference is expected to be derived, and (B) such other data as to such estimated expenditures as the Commissioner may find necessary; (2) The Commissioner shall then certify to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount so estimated by the Commissioner, reduced or increased, as the case may be, by any sum by which the Commissioner finds that his estimate for any prior period was greater or less than the amount which should have been paid to the State under subsection (a) for such period, except that, with respect to any State in which on the effective date of this Act there are not lawfully available to the State agency sufficient funds to pay that portion of the necessary cost of proper and efficient administration of its functions for the purposes specified in subsection (a) which is not payable or reimbursable out of Federal grants under such subsections, the Commissioner may certify to the Secretary of the Treasury, for any period or periods expiring not later than the end of the first six complete calendar months following the close of the next regular session of the State legislature, his estimate of the total amount (not otherwise available to the State) necessary for such proper and efficient administration for such period, and in that event the excess of such total amount over the amount which would otherwise have been payable to the State under subsection (a) for such period shall be recovered by setting off such excess against estimates for subsequent periods; (3) The Secretary of the Treasury shall, prior to audit or settlement by the General Accounting Office, pay to the State, at the time or times fixed by the Commissioner, the amount so certified. (c) All money paid to a State under this section shall be used solely for the purpose for which it is paid. Any money paid to the State in excess of the amounts specified in subsection (a), with respect to which no adjustment as provided in subsection (b) has been made prior to the end of the fiscal year ending in 1952, shall be repaid to the Secretary of the Treasury and, if not repaid within ninety days after date, shall be recoverable by the United States by action in any court of competent jurisdiction. TITLE III-GENERAL PROVISIONS DEFINITIONS SEC. 201. For the purpose of this Act (a) the term "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Education; (b) the term "construct" or "construction" means the preparation of drawings and specifications, erecting, building, acquiring, altering, remodeling, improving or extending school facilities, and includes initial equipment and inspection and supervision of construction and other functions in connection therewith; (c) the term "cost of construction" includes only such expenditures incurred by the project applicant for construction of school facilities as are necessary in constructing a project in conformity with an approved project application (or amendment thereof), awarded contracts, and the provisions of title I, and excludes, (1) costs, except architects' and engineers' fees, incurred prior to approval of the project application by the State agency, (2) administrative or other expenses in connection with the acquisition of interests in land, (3) the cost of materials and supplies furnished by the project applicant specifically for the project, (4) on a project constructed under contract, payments made to the project applicant or its regular employees for services, and (5) payments of interest on bonds or other securities or loans issued or obtained to raise non-Federal funds for the project; (d) the term "Federal percentage" means the Federal percentage as determined in accordance with subsection (a) of section 2; (e) the term "project" means a planned undertaking for construction of school facilities, with respect to which an application for a grant is submitted under section 4; (f) the term "school" means any elementary or secondary school which is tax-supported and publicly administered; (g) the term "school-age population" means that part of the population which is between the ages of 5 and 17 inclusive; the term "school-age child" means any member of the school-age population; and the population and school-age population of the several States shall be determined on the basis of the most recent figures certified by the Department of Commerce; (h) the term "school agency" means any public administrative body which under State or local law or both is authorized to plan and construct tax-supported and publicly administered elementary and/or secondary school facilities; (i) the term "school facilities" means (1) a building or buildings or part thereof, addition thereto, or extension thereof, (2) improvements, (3) site improvements, (4) proper approaches, (5) appurtenances, and (6) initial |