I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3296 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants to States and 

local educational agencies for hiring and training prekindergarten teachers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 14, 2005 

Mr. FORD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Education to make grants 

to States and local educational agencies for hiring and 

training prekindergarten teachers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prekindergarten-Ori5 ented Professional Support Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR HIRING AND TRAINING ELIGIBLE PRE7 KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS. 

8 (a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Education, in con9 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv10 ices, may make grants to States and local educational 
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1 agencies to pay all or a portion of the salaries, benefits, 

2 and training costs of new eligible prekindergarten teachers 

3 for the purposes of— 

4 (1) increasing the number of such teachers; and 

5 (2) expanding children’s access to free or af6 fordable, high-quality, early education. 

7 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary shall require 

8 each applicant for a grant under this section to agree to 

9 use the grant to pay all or a portion of the salaries, bene10 fits, and training costs of new eligible prekindergarten 

11 teachers to serve at eligible prekindergarten providers de12 scribed in subsection (c). 

13 (c) ELIGIBLE PREKINDERGARTEN PROVIDERS.—An 

14 eligible prekindergarten provider described in this para15 graph is a State, local, or private non-profit or for-profit 

16 prekindergarten provider that— 

17 (1) is a high-quality, prekindergarten provider 

18 meeting the standards issued by the Secretary under 

19 subsection (d); 

20 (2) is serving a significant percentage of low-in21 come children; and 

22 (3) if the provider is a private, tuition-based 

23 provider, agrees to adjust tuition standards or take 

24 other appropriate measures to ensure that not less 

25 than 50 percent of the children to be served through 
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1 the provider by new eligible prekindergarten teachers 

2 under this section will be low-income children. 

3 (d) STANDARDS FOR HIGH-QUALITY, PREKINDER4 GARTEN PROVIDERS.— 

5 (1) STANDARDS.—Not later than 180 days 

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec7 retary shall issue standards to determine whether a 

8 prekindergarten provider is a high-quality, pre9 kindergarten provider. 

10 (2) CRITERIA.—In issuing standards under this 

11 subsection, the Secretary shall take into consider12 ation the following criteria: 

13 (A) Administration. 

14 (B) Support services. 

15 (C) Health, safety, and nutrition. 

16 (D) Parental involvement. 

17 (E) Teacher training. 

18 (F) Teacher-to-student ratio. 

19 (G) Curriculum, including pre-literacy, pre20 numeracy, emotion regulation, and behavioral 

21 skills training. 

22 (3) RELATION TO STANDARDS UNDER HEAD

23 START ACT.—Any standards issued by the Secretary 

24 under this subsection shall be consistent with or in 

25 addition to any standards applicable to prekinder-
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1 garten providers under the Head Start Act (42 

2 U.S.C. 9831 et seq.). 

3 (e) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—The Secretary 

4 shall require each applicant for a grant under this section 

5 to comply with the following: 

6 (1) LEAD AGENCY.—The chief executive officer 

7 of the State or local educational agency applying for 

8 the grant must designate an agency (which may be 

9 an appropriate collaborative agency) or establish a 

10 joint interagency office to serve as the lead agency 

11 for administering the grant. 

12 (2) COORDINATION.—The applicant must have 

13 a mechanism in place to coordinate the applicant’s 

14 activities under the grant with other programs in 

15 order to ensure the effective and efficient use of all 

16 available resources to meet early childhood and fam17 ily needs. 

18 (3) MATCHING FUNDS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the 

20 costs of the program to be carried out through 

21 a grant under this section, a condition for the 

22 receipt of the grant is that the applicant agree 

23 to make available (directly or through donations 

24 from public or private entities) non-Federal 
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1 contributions toward such costs in an amount 

2 that is not less than 25 percent of such costs. 

3 (B) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT CON4 TRIBUTED.—Non-Federal contributions re5 quired in subparagraph (A) may be in cash or 

6 in kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equip7 ment, or services. Amounts provided by the 

8 Federal Government, or services assisted or 

9 subsidized to any significant extent by the Fed10 eral Government, may not be included in deter11 mining the amount of such non-Federal con12 tributions. 

13 (C) WAIVER.—The Secretary may waive 

14 the requirements of this paragraph in whole or 

15 in part with respect to any grantee for any fis16 cal year if the Secretary determines that such 

17 a waiver would be equitable due to lack of avail18 able financial resources. 

19 (4) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds 

20 made available under this section shall be used to 

21 supplement, and not supplant, other Federal, State, 

22 and local funds expended to support early childhood 

23 programs. 

24 (f) APPLICATION.— 
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—To seek a grant under this 

2 section, a State or local educational agency shall 

3 submit an application to the Secretary at such time, 

4 in such form and manner, and containing such in5 formation as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

6 (2) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, an application 

7 under this subsection shall include a description of— 

8 (A) the applicant’s need for expanded ac9 cess to high-quality, early childhood education; 

10 and 

11 (B) the applicant’s ability to use resources 

12 efficiently and effectively to address such need. 

13 (g) PRIORITY.—In making grants under this section, 

14 the Secretary shall give priority to States and local edu15 cational agencies that demonstrate the greatest need for 

16 increased access to high-quality, early childhood edu17 cation. 

18 (h) MONITORING; REPORTS.—The Secretary shall— 

19 (1) require each recipient of a grant under this 

20 section to monitor and report to the Secretary on 

21 the progress achieved through the grant; and 

22 (2) submit an annual report to the Congress on 

23 the progress of grantees under this section. 
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1 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR INCREASING RETENTION OF PRE2 KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS. 

3 (a) GRANTS.—The Secretary of Education, in con4 sultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Serv5 ices, may make grants to States and local educational 

6 agencies to increase retention of prekindergarten teachers 

7 by establishing a career ladder described in subsection (b) 

8 for such teachers. 

9 (b) CAREER LADDER.—A career ladder described in 

10 this subsection— 

11 (1) shall provide incentives for prekindergarten 

12 teachers to obtain additional training and education, 

13 such as by obtaining certification, an associate’s de14 gree, a bachelor’s degree, or other recognition of 

15 higher education; and 

16 (2) shall not undermine the valuable contribu17 tions of prekindergarten teachers lacking formal 

18 education, but having a wealth of early childhood ex19 perience. 

20 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) The term ‘‘eligible prekindergarten teacher’’ 

23 means an individual who has, or is currently enrolled 

24 in classes to obtain, a Bachelor of Arts degree in 

25 early childhood development. 
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1 (2) The terms ‘‘local educational agency’’ and 

2 ‘‘State’’ have the meanings given to those terms in 

3 section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu4 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

5 (3) The term ‘‘low-income child’’ means a child 

6 from a family with an income below 200 percent of 

7 the poverty line. 

8 (4) The term ‘‘poverty line’’ means the poverty 

9 line (as defined by the Office of Management and 

10 Budget and revised annually in accordance with sec11 tion 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant 

12 Act) applicable to a family of the size involved. 

13 (5) The term ‘‘prekindergarten’’ means a pro14 gram serving children 3, 4, and 5 years of age that 

15 requires teachers to equip such children with the 

16 pre-literacy, pre-numeracy emotion regulation, and 

17 behavioral skills required for school success. 

18 (6) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

19 of Education. 

20 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 To carry out this Act, there is authorized to be appro22 priated $50,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 

23 2010. 

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