Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 108 Part 5.djvu/364

 108 STAT. 3854 PUBLIC LAW 103-382—OCT. 20, 1994 "(9) encourage rural school consortia for the purpose of increasing efficiency and course offerings; "(10) encourage a positive role for rural public schools in local rural entrepreneurship and the identification of rural community economic development opportunities; "(11) encourage community-as -school concepts, which include the role public schools can play to assist with rural community economic revitalization; and "(12) provide for the recruitment and meaningful inservice opportunities for rural public school teachers. 20 USC 8293. "SEC. 10973. RURAL SCHOOL GRANTS. "(a) AUTHORITY.— The Secretary is authorized to make grants to rural eligible local educational agencies, or State educational agencies in the case where the State educational agency is the local educational agency, for activities designed to assist in local school improvement efforts. "(b) AWARD RULES.— "(1) LESS THAN $50,000,000.— I f the amount made available to carry out this subpart for any fiscal year is less than $50,000,000, the Secretary shall award grants under this section on a competitive basis. "(2) EQUAL TO OR GREATER THAN $50,000,000.— I f the amount made available to carry out this subpart for any fiscal year is equal to or greater than $50,000,000, the Secretary shall award grants under this section so that a rural eligible local educational agency in each State receives such a grant. "(c) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS. —Not more than five percent of a grant awarded under section 10573 shall be used for administrative costs. "(d) DURATION. —Each grant under this section shall be awarded for a period of not more than five years. 20 USC 8294. "SEC. 10974. USES OF FUNDS. "(a) IN GENERAL,—Grant funds made available under section 10973 may be used by rural eligible local educational agencies to meet the National Education Groals through programs designed to— "(1) increase the academic achievement of rural public school children to at least the national average of such achievement, including education reform initiatives, such as— "(A) effective public schools programs; "(B) tutoring, mentoring, and other activities to improve academic achievement directly; "(C) supplementary academic instruction; "(D) efforts to improve problem-solving and higherorder critical thinking skills; and "(E) efforts to lengthen the school day, school year, or reduce class sizes; "(2) develop pilot projects that experiment with innovative ways to teach rural public school children more effectively; "(3) encourage the formation of rural school consortia for the purpose of increasing efficiency and course offerings; "(4) provide meaningful inservice training opportunities for rural public school teachers; "(5) assist rural schools in acquiring and improving access to educational technology, including distance learning technologies;

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