§ 394 — Establishment Of National Endowment

(a) It is the purpose of this section to enhance the education of children through the creation and production of television programming specifically directed toward the development of fundamental intellectual skills. (1) There is established, under the direction of the Secretary, a National Endowment for Children’s Educational Television. In administering the National Endowment, the Secretary is authorized to— (A) contract with the Corporation for the production of educational television programming for children; and (B) make grants directly to persons proposing to create and produce educational television programming for children. (2) Contracts and grants under this section shall be made on the condition that the programming shall— (A) during the first two years after its production, be made available only to public television licensees and permittees and noncommercial television licensees and permittees; and (B) thereafter be made available to any commercial television licensee or permittee or cable television system operator, at a charge established by the Secretary that will assure the maximum practicable distribution of such programming, so long as such licensee, permittee, or operator does not interrupt the programming with commercial advertisements. (1) The Secretary, with the advice of the Advisory Council on Children’s Educational Television, shall establish criteria for making contracts and grants under this section. Such criteria shall be consistent with the purpose and provisions of this section and shall be made available to interested parties upon request. Such criteria shall include— (A) criteria to maximize the amount of programming that is produced with the funds made available by the Endowment; (B) criteria to minimize the costs of— (i) selection of grantees, (ii) administering the contracts and grants, and (iii) the administrative costs of the programming production; and (C) criteria to otherwise maximize the proportion of funds made available by the Endowment that are expended for the cost of programming production. (2) Applications for grants under this section shall be submitted to the Secretary in such form and containing such information as the Secretary shall require by regulation. (d) Upon approving any application for a grant under subsection (b)(1)(B), the Secretary shall make a grant to the applicant in an amount determined by the Secretary, except that such amounts shall not exceed 75 percent of the amount determined by the Secretary to be the reasonable and necessary cost of the project for which the grant is made. (1) The Secretary shall establish an Advisory Council on Children’s Educational Television. The Secretary shall appoint ten individuals as members of the Council and designate one of such members to serve as Chairman. (2) Members of the Council shall have terms of two years, and no member shall serve for more than three consecutive terms. The members shall have expertise in the fields of education, psychology, child development, or television programming, or related disciplines. Officers and employees of the United States shall not be appointed as members. (3) While away from their homes or regular places of business in the performance of duties for the Council, the members of the Council shall serve without compensation but shall be allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in accordance with section 5703 of title 5. (4) The Council shall meet at the call of the Chairman and shall advise the Secretary concerning the making of contracts and grants under this section. (1) Each recipient of a grant under this section shall keep such records as may be reasonably necessary to enable the Secretary to carry out the Secretary’s functions under this section, including records which fully disclose the amount and the disposition by such recipient of the proceeds of such grant, the total cost of the project, the amount and nature of that portion of the cost of the project supplied by other sources, and such other records as will facilitate an effective audit. (2) The Secretary and the Comptroller General of the United States, or any of their duly authorized representatives, shall have access for the purposes of audit and examination to any books, documents, papers, and records of the recipient that are pertinent to a grant received under this section. (g) The Secretary is authorized to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out this section, including those relating to the order of priority in approving applications for projects under this section or to determining the amounts of contracts and grants for such projects. (h) one year after the last day of such fiscal year. (i) For purposes of this section— (1) the term “educational television programming for children” means any television program which is directed to an audience of children who are 16 years of age or younger and which is designed for the intellectual development of those children, except that such term does not include any television program which is directed to a general audience but which might also be viewed by a significant number of children; and (2) the term “person” means an individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, corporation, or State or local governmental entity.