123STA T . 2 84PUBLIC LA W 111 –5—FE B.1 7, 2 0 0 9(c)SUBGRANTS T OL O C A LED UCAT I ONAL A G E NCIES .— E a c h S t at er ece iv i ng a grant u n d er thi s secti o n sha l l use at least 50p ercent o f the grant to provide local educational agencies in the State w ith su b grants based on their relative shares of funding under part A of title I of the ESEA ( 2 0 U .S. C . 631 1etse q .) for the m ost recent y ear. SEC.140 0 7 . IN N OVAT ION FU N D . (a) IN G ENERAL.— (1) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.— F or the purposes of this section , the term ‘ ‘eligible entity ’ ’ means— (A) a local educational agency
or ( B ) a partnership between a nonprofit organi z ation and— (i) one or more local educational agencies; or (ii) a consortium of schools. (2) P ROGRA M ESTABLIS H ED.—From the total amount reserved under section 1 4 001(c), the Secretary may reserve up to $ 650,000,000 to establish an Innovation Fund, which shall consist of academic achievement awards that recognize eligible entities that meet the requirements described in sub - section (b). (3) BASIS F ORA W ARDS.— T he Secretary shall ma k e awards to eligible entities that have made significant gains in closing the achievement gap as described in subsection (b)(1)— (A) to allow such eligible entities to e x pand their work and serve as models for best practices; (B) to allow such eligible entities to work in partnership with the private sector and the philanthropic community; and (C) to identify and document best practices that can be shared, and taken to scale based on demonstrated suc- cess. (b) ELIGIBILIT Y .—To be eligible for such an award, an eligible entity shall— (1) have significantly closed the achievement gaps between groups of students described in section 1111(b)(2) of the ESEA (20 U.S.C. 6311(b)(2)); (2) have exceeded the State’s annual measurable ob j ectives consistent with such section 1111(b)(2) for 2 or more consecutive years or have demonstrated success in significantly increasing student academic achievement for all groups of students described in such section through another measure, such as measures described in section 1111(c)(2) of the ESEA; (3) have made significant improvement in other areas, such as graduation rates or increased recruitment and placement of high-quality teachers and school leaders, as demonstrated with meaningful data; and (4) demonstrate that they have established partnerships with the private sector, which may include philanthropic organizations, and that the private sector will provide matching funds in order to help bring results to scale. (c) S P ECIAL R ULE.—In the case of an eligible entity that includes a nonprofit organization, the eligible entity shall be considered to have met the eligibility requirements of paragraphs (1), (2), (3) of subsection (b) if such nonprofit organization has a record of meeting such requirements.
