§6333 — Title 20 Education | U.S. Code

§6333 Basic Grants to Local Educational Agencies

Title 20 › Chapter 70— STRENGTHENING AND IMPROVEMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS › Subchapter I— IMPROVING THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF THE DISADVANTAGED › Part A— Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies › Subpart 2— allocations › § 6333

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Grants to local school districts are figured by multiplying the number of counted children by 40% of the State’s average per-student spending, but that per-student amount cannot be less than 32% or more than 48% of the U.S. average per-student spending. A district can get a grant only if it has at least 10 counted children and those children are more than 2% of the district’s school-age population. The counted children are: (1) ages 5–17 in families below the poverty level (using Commerce population data); (2) ages 5–17 in nonfederal institutions for neglected or delinquent children or in foster care; and (3) ages 5–17 above the poverty level who receive State cash assistance like TANF. The Department of Education uses the most recent Commerce data (updated yearly or every two years if needed). The Secretary of Health and Human Services must give some caseload data to the Education Secretary by January 1 each year. If the Commerce data are found unreliable, the Education and Commerce Secretaries must explain why and use backup methods. States usually allocate funds to counties, which then go to districts, but a State can ask to allocate directly to districts if county lines overlap a lot or better data exist. For small districts the State may use an approved alternative method based on population that best shows where poor children live. Large districts serve areas with 20,000 or more people; small districts serve fewer than 20,000. A small district can appeal a State’s grant decision to the Education Secretary, who must answer within 45 days. Puerto Rico has a special rule: its grant equals its counted children times a percentage (its per-pupil spending divided by the lowest State per-pupil spending) times 32% of the U.S. average per-pupil spending. That percentage may not be below 77.5% for FY2002, 80.0% for FY2003, 82.5% for FY2004, 85.0% for FY2005, 92.5% for FY2006, and 100.0% for FY2007 and later; if using these minimums would reduce any State or D.C. below what it got the previous year, a higher percentage is used as specified. A State’s total allotment cannot be less than the lesser of: (1) 0.25% of the total FY2001 allocation plus 0.35% of the amount above FY2001, or (2) the average of that calculation and the State’s counted children times 150% of the national average per-pupil payment.

Title 20, §6333

Education — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (4) and in section 6338 of this title, the grant that a local educational agency is eligible to receive under this section for a fiscal year is the amount determined by multiplying—

(A)the number of children counted under subsection (c); and

(B)40 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure in the State, except that the amount determined under this subparagraph shall not be less than 32 percent, or more than 48 percent, of the average per-pupil expenditure in the United States.

(2)(A)The Secretary shall calculate grants under this section on the basis of the number of children counted under subsection (c) for local educational agencies, unless the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce determine that some or all of those data are unreliable or that their use would be otherwise inappropriate, in which case—

(i)the two Secretaries shall publicly disclose the reasons for their determination in detail; and

(ii)paragraph (3) shall apply.

(B)(i)For any fiscal year to which this paragraph applies, the Secretary shall calculate grants under this section for each local educational agency.

(ii)The amount of a grant under this section for each large local educational agency shall be the amount determined under clause (i).

(iii)For small local educational agencies, the State educational agency may either—

(I)distribute grants under this section in amounts determined by the Secretary under clause (i); or

(II)use an alternative method approved by the Secretary to distribute the portion of the State’s total grants under this section that is based on those small agencies.

(iv)An alternative method under clause (iii)(II) shall be based on population data that the State educational agency determines best reflect the current distribution of children in poor families among the State’s small local educational agencies that meet the eligibility criteria of subsection (b).

(v)If a small local educational agency is dissatisfied with the determination of its grant by the State educational agency under clause (iii)(II), it may appeal that determination to the Secretary, who shall respond not later than 45 days after receipt of such appeal.

(vi)As used in this subparagraph—

(I)the term “large local educational agency” means a local educational agency serving an area with a total population of 20,000 or more; and

(II)the term “small local educational agency” means a local educational agency serving an area with a total population of less than 20,000.

(3)(A)For any fiscal year to which this paragraph applies, the Secretary shall calculate grants under this section on the basis of the number of children counted under subsection (c) for counties, and State educational agencies shall suballocate county amounts to local educational agencies, in accordance with regulations issued by the Secretary.

(B)In any State in which a large number of local educational agencies overlap county boundaries, or for which the State believes it has data that would better target funds than allocating them by county, the State educational agency may apply to the Secretary for authority to make the allocations under this subpart for a particular fiscal year directly to local educational agencies without regard to counties.

(C)If the Secretary approves the State educational agency’s application under subparagraph (B), the State educational agency shall provide the Secretary an assurance that such allocations shall be made—

(i)using precisely the same factors for determining a grant as are used under this subpart; or

(ii)using data that the State educational agency submits to the Secretary for approval that more accurately target poverty.

(D)The State educational agency shall provide the Secretary an assurance that it will establish a procedure through which a local educational agency that is dissatisfied with its determinations under subparagraph (B) may appeal directly to the Secretary for a final determination.

(4)(A)For each fiscal year, the grant that the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall be eligible to receive under this section shall be the amount determined by multiplying the number of children counted under subsection (c) for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico by the product of—

(i)subject to subparagraph (B), the percentage that the average per-pupil expenditure in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is of the lowest average per-pupil expenditure of any of the 50 States; and

(ii)32 percent of the average per-pupil expenditure in the United States.

(B)The percentage in subparagraph (A)(i) shall not be less than—

(i)for fiscal year 2002, 77.5 percent;

(ii)for fiscal year 2003, 80.0 percent;

(iii)for fiscal year 2004, 82.5 percent;

(iv)for fiscal year 2005, 85.0 percent;

(v)for fiscal year 2006, 92.5 percent; and

(vi)for fiscal year 2007 and succeeding fiscal years, 100.0 percent.

(C)If the application of subparagraph (B) would result in any of the 50 States or the District of Columbia receiving less under this subpart than it received under this subpart for the preceding fiscal year, the percentage in subparagraph (A) shall be the greater of—

(i)the percentage in subparagraph (A)(i);

(ii)the percentage specified in subparagraph (B) for the preceding fiscal year; or

(iii)the percentage used for the preceding fiscal year.

(b)A local educational agency is eligible for a basic grant under this section for any fiscal year only if the number of children counted under subsection (c) for that agency is both—

(1)10 or more; and

(2)more than 2 percent of the total school-age population in the agency’s jurisdiction.

(c)(1)The number of children to be counted for purposes of this section is the aggregate of—

(A)the number of children aged 5 to 17, inclusive, in the school district of the local educational agency from families below the poverty level as determined under paragraph (2);

(B)the number of children (determined under paragraph (4) for either the preceding year as described in that paragraph, or for the second preceding year, as the Secretary finds appropriate) aged 5 to 17, inclusive, in the school district of such agency in institutions for neglected and delinquent children (other than such institutions operated by the United States), but not counted pursuant to subpart 1 of part D for the purposes of a grant to a State agency, or being supported in foster homes with public funds; and

(C)the number of children aged 5 to 17, inclusive, in the school district of such agency from families above the poverty level as determined under paragraph (4).

(2)For the purposes of this section, the Secretary shall determine the number of children aged 5 to 17, inclusive, from families below the poverty level on the basis of the most recent satisfactory data, described in paragraph (3), available from the Department of Commerce. The District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico shall be treated as individual local educational agencies. If a local educational agency contains two or more counties in their entirety, then each county will be treated as if such county were a separate local educational agency for purposes of calculating grants under this part. The total of grants for such counties shall be allocated to such a local educational agency, which local educational agency shall distribute to schools in each county within such agency a share of the local educational agency’s total grant that is no less than the county’s share of the population counts used to calculate the local educational agency’s grant.

(3)(A)In fiscal year 2002 and each subsequent fiscal year, the Secretary shall use updated data on the number of children, aged 5 to 17, inclusive, from families below the poverty level for counties or local educational agencies, published by the Department of Commerce, unless the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce determine that the use of the updated population data would be inappropriate or unreliable. If appropriate and reliable data are not available annually, the Secretary shall use data which are updated every 2 years.

(B)If the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce determine that some or all of the data referred to in subparagraph (A) are inappropriate or unreliable, the Secretary and the Secretary of Commerce shall publicly disclose their reasons.

(C)In determining the families that are below the poverty level, the Secretary shall use the criteria of poverty used by the Bureau of the Census in compiling the most recent decennial census, as the criteria have been updated by increases in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(4)(A)For the purpose of this section, the Secretary shall determine the number of children aged 5 to 17, inclusive, from families above the poverty level on the basis of the number of such children from families receiving an annual income, in excess of the current criteria of poverty, from payments under a State program funded under part A of title IV of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.]; and in making such determinations, the Secretary shall use the criteria of poverty used by the Bureau of the Census in compiling the most recent decennial census for a family of four in such form as those criteria have been updated by increases in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

(B)The Secretary shall determine the number of such children and the number of children aged 5 through 17 living in institutions for neglected or delinquent children, or being supported in foster homes with public funds, on the basis of the caseload data for the month of October of the preceding fiscal year (using, in the case of children described in the preceding sentence, the criteria of poverty and the form of such criteria required by such sentence which were determined for the calendar year preceding such month of October) or, to the extent that such data are not available to the Secretary before January of the calendar year in which the Secretary’s determination is made, then on the basis of the most recent reliable data available to the Secretary at the time of such determination.

(C)Except for the data on children living in institutions for neglected or delinquent children, the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall collect and transmit the information required by this subparagraph to the Secretary not later than January 1 of each year.

(D)For the purpose of this section, the Secretary shall consider all children who are in correctional institutions to be living in institutions for delinquent children.

(5)When requested by the Secretary, the Secretary of Commerce shall make a special updated estimate of the number of children of such ages who are from families below the poverty level (as determined under paragraph (1)(A)) in each school district, and the Secretary is authorized to pay (either in advance or by way of reimbursement) the Secretary of Commerce the cost of making this special estimate. The Secretary of Commerce shall give consideration to any request of the chief executive of a State for the collection of additional census information.

(d)Notwithstanding section 6332 of this title, the aggregate amount allotted for all local educational agencies within a State may not be less than the lesser of—

(1)0.25 percent of the total amount allocated to States under this section for fiscal year 2001, plus 0.35 percent of the total amount allocated to States under this section in excess of the amount allocated for fiscal year 2001; or

(2)the average of—

(A)the amount calculated in paragraph (1), above; and

(B)the number of children in such State counted under subsection (c) in the fiscal year multiplied by 150 percent of the national average per-pupil payment made with funds available under this section for that year.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Social Security Act, referred to in subsec. (c)(4)(A), is act Aug. 14, 1935, ch. 531, 49 Stat. 620, as amended. Part A of title IV of the Act is classified generally to part A (§ 601 et seq.) of subchapter IV of chapter 7 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1305 of Title 42 and Tables.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 6333, Pub. L. 89–10, title I, § 1124, as added Pub. L. 103–382, title I, § 101, Oct. 20, 1994, 108 Stat. 3564; amended Pub. L. 104–193, title I, § 110(j)(2), Aug. 22, 1996, 110 Stat. 2172, related to basic grants to local educational agencies, prior to the general amendment of this subchapter by Pub. L. 107–110.