I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1761 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish 

the Teacher Incentive Fund Program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 29, 2007 

Mr. PRICE of Georgia (for himself, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. CASTLE, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. DAVID DAVIS of Tennessee, 

Mr. REGULA, Ms. NORTON, and Mr. DAVIS of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to establish the Teacher Incentive Fund Program, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Teacher Incentive 

5 Fund Act’’. 

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1 SEC. 2. TEACHER INCENTIVE FUND PROGRAM. 

2 Part C of title II of the Elementary and Secondary 

3 Education Act of 1965 is amended by adding at the end 

4 the following: 

5 ‘‘Subpart 6—Teacher Incentive Fund Program 

6 ‘‘SEC. 2371. PURPOSES; DEFINITIONS. 

7 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this subpart are— 

8 ‘‘(1) to assist States, local educational agencies, 

9 and nonprofit organizations to develop, implement, 

10 or improve comprehensive performance-based com11 pensation systems for teachers and principals, espe12 cially for teachers and principals in high-need 

13 schools, who raise student academic achievement and 

14 close the achievement gap; and 

15 ‘‘(2) to study and review performance-based 

16 compensation systems for teachers and principals to 

17 evaluate their effectiveness, fairness, quality, consist18 ency, and reliability. 

19 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this subpart: 

20 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en21 tity’ means— 

22 ‘‘(A) a local educational agency (including 

23 a charter school that is a local educational 

24 agency), or a consortium of such agencies; 

25 ‘‘(B) a State educational agency, or other 

26 State agency designated by the chief executive 

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1 of the State to participate under this subpart; 

2 or 

3 ‘‘(C) a partnership of— 

4 ‘‘(i) one or more agencies described in 

5 subparagraph (A) or (B), or both; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) at least one nonprofit organiza7 tion. 

8 ‘‘(2) HIGH-NEED LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN9 CY.—The term ‘high-need local educational agency’ 

10 has the meaning given the term in section 2102. 

11 ‘‘(3) HIGH-NEED SCHOOL.—The term ‘high12 need school’ has the meaning given the term in sec13 tion 2312. 

14 ‘‘(4) PERFORMANCE-BASED COMPENSATION

15 SYSTEM.—The term ‘performance-based compensa16 tion system’ means a system of compensation for 

17 teachers and principals that— 

18 ‘‘(A) differentiates levels of compensation 

19 primarily on the basis of measurable increases 

20 in student academic achievement; and 

21 ‘‘(B) may include— 

22 ‘‘(i) differentiated levels of compensa23 tion on the basis of high-quality teachers’ 

24 and principals’ employment and success in 

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1 hard-to-staff schools or high-need subject 

2 areas; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) recognition of the skills and 

4 knowledge of teachers and principals as 

5 demonstrated through— 

6 ‘‘(I) successful fulfillment of ad7 ditional responsibilities or job func8 tions; and 

9 ‘‘(II) evidence of high achieve10 ment and mastery of content knowl11 edge and superior teaching skills. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 2372. TEACHER INCENTIVE FUND GRANTS. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts appropriated 

14 to carry out this subpart, the Secretary is authorized to 

15 make grants on a competitive basis to eligible entities to 

16 develop, implement, or improve performance-based com17 pensation systems in participating schools. 

18 ‘‘(b) PRIORITY.—In making such a grant, the Sec19 retary shall give priority to an eligible entity that con20 centrates its proposed activities on teachers and principals 

21 serving in high-need schools. 

22 ‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

23 under this subpart, an eligible entity shall submit an appli24 cation to the Secretary, at such time and in such manner 

25 as the Secretary may reasonably require, that includes— 

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1 ‘‘(1) a description of the performance-based 

2 compensation system that the applicant proposes to 

3 develop and implement or improve; 

4 ‘‘(2) a description and demonstration of the 

5 support and commitment from teachers and prin6 cipals in the targeted schools, the community, and 

7 local educational agency or agencies for the perform8 ance-based compensation system, including dem9 onstration of consultation with teachers and prin10 cipals on the development and implementation of the 

11 performance-based compensation system; 

12 ‘‘(3) a description of how the eligible entity will 

13 develop and implement a fair, rigorous, and objective 

14 process to evaluate teacher, principal, and student 

15 performance, including the baseline performance 

16 against which evaluations of improved performance 

17 will be made; 

18 ‘‘(4) a description and demonstration of how 

19 teacher and principal views were included in the de20 velopment of the performance-based compensation 

21 system; 

22 ‘‘(5) a description of the local educational agen23 cy or local educational agencies to be served by the 

24 project, including such demographic information 

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1 about students in the schools to be served by the 

2 project as the Secretary may request; 

3 ‘‘(6) information on student academic achieve4 ment, the quality of the teachers and principals, and 

5 existing compensation, bonuses, and incentive sys6 tems for teachers and principals in the schools to be 

7 served by the project; 

8 ‘‘(7) a description of how the applicant will use 

9 grant funds under this subpart in each year of the 

10 grant; 

11 ‘‘(8) a description of the comprehensive, focused 

12 professional development that is aligned with stu13 dent content and achievement standards that the ap14 plicant will implement to support the performance15 based compensation system; 

16 ‘‘(9) an explanation of how the grantee will con17 tinue its performance-based compensation system 

18 after the grant ends; 

19 ‘‘(10) a description, if applicable, of how the ap20 plicant will define the term ‘high-quality’ for the 

21 purposes of section 2371(b)(4)(B)(i), through the 

22 use of measurable indicators; 

23 ‘‘(11) a description of the State, local, or phil24 anthropic funds that will be used to supplement the 

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1 grant and sustain the activities at the end of the 

2 grant period; and 

3 ‘‘(12) A description of how the applicant will 

4 evaluate the project annually, including any objective 

5 measures that are clearly related to the goals for the 

6 project and information on how the evaluation will 

7 produce quantitative and qualitative data. 

8 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A grantee shall use grant 

10 funds provided under this subpart only to develop, 

11 implement, or improve, in collaboration with teach12 ers, principals, other school administrators, and 

13 members of the public, a performance-based com14 pensation system consistent with the requirements of 

15 this subpart. 

16 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—Authorized ac17 tivities under this subpart may include the following: 

18 ‘‘(A) Developing appraisal systems that re19 flect clear and fair measures of student aca20 demic achievement. 

21 ‘‘(B) Developing appraisal systems that re22 flect clear and fair measures of teacher and 

23 principal performance based on demonstrated 

24 improvements in student academic achievement. 

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1 ‘‘(C) Conducting outreach within the local 

2 educational agency (or agencies) or the State to 

3 gain input on how to construct the appraisal 

4 system and to develop support for it. 

5 ‘‘(D) Paying, as part of a comprehensive 

6 performance-based compensation system, bo7 nuses and increased salaries to teachers and 

8 principals who raise student academic achieve9 ment, so long as the grantee uses an increasing 

10 share of non-Federal funds to pay these mone11 tary rewards each year of the grant. 

12 ‘‘(E) Paying, as part of a comprehensive 

13 performance-based compensation system, addi14 tional bonuses to teachers who both raise stu15 dent academic achievement and either teach in 

16 high-need schools or teach subjects that are dif17 ficult to staff, or both, so long as the grantee 

18 uses an increasing share of non-Federal funds 

19 to pay these monetary rewards each year of the 

20 grant. 

21 ‘‘(F) Paying, as part of a comprehensive 

22 performance-based compensation system, addi23 tional bonuses to principals who both raise stu24 dent academic achievement and serve in high25 need schools, so long as the grantee uses an inmmaher on PROD1PC60 with BILLS

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1 creasing share of non-Federal funds to pay 

2 these monetary rewards each year of the grant. 

3 ‘‘(e) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may make 

5 grants under this section for periods of up to 5 

6 years. 

7 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—An agency described in sub8 paragraph (A) of section 2371(b)(1) may receive 

9 (whether individually or as part of a consortium or 

10 partnership) a grant under this subpart only once. 

11 Such an agency may continue to receive that grant 

12 for the period of that grant, but shall not receive 

13 (whether individually or as part of a consortium or 

14 partnership) any other grant under this subpart. 

15 ‘‘(f) EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION.—To the extent 

16 practicable, the Secretary shall ensure an equitable geo17 graphic distribution of grants under this section. 

18 ‘‘(g) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.— 

19 ‘‘(1) Each eligible entity that receives a grant 

20 under this section shall provide, from non-Federal 

21 sources, an amount (which may be provided in cash 

22 or in kind) to carry out the activities supported by 

23 the grant equal to— 

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1 ‘‘(A) for the first year of the grant, 25 per2 cent of the amount received for that year under 

3 the grant; 

4 ‘‘(B) for the second year, 30 percent; 

5 ‘‘(C) for the third year, 35 percent; 

6 ‘‘(D) for the fourth year, 40 percent; and 

7 ‘‘(E) for the fifth year, 50 percent. 

8 ‘‘(2) The Secretary may waive all or part of the 

9 matching requirement described in paragraph (1) for 

10 any fiscal year for an eligible entity described in sec11 tion 2371(b)(1)(A) if that eligible entity is a high12 need local educational agency, a consortium of high13 need local educational agencies, or a charter school 

14 that is a high-need local educational agency and the 

15 Secretary determines that applying the matching re16 quirement to such eligible entity would result in seri17 ous hardship or an inability to carry out the activi18 ties described in subsection (d). 

19 ‘‘(h) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Grant funds 

20 provided under this section shall be used to supplement, 

21 not supplant, other Federal or State funds. 

22 ‘‘SEC. 2373. REPORT AND EVALUATION. 

23 ‘‘(a) REPORT.—The Secretary shall provide an an24 nual report on the implementation of the program to the 

25 Congress. 

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1 ‘‘(b) EVALUATION.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall, 

3 through grant or contract, carry out an independent 

4 evaluation of the program under this subpart. 

5 ‘‘(2) CONTENT.—The evaluation shall meas6 ure— 

7 ‘‘(A) the effectiveness of the program in 

8 improving student academic achievement; 

9 ‘‘(B) the satisfaction of the participating 

10 teachers or principals; and 

11 ‘‘(C) the extent to which the program as12 sisted the eligible entities in recruiting and re13 taining high-quality teachers and principals, es14 pecially in hard-to-staff subject areas. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 2374. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap17 propriated to carry out this subpart such sums as may 

18 be necessary for fiscal year 2008 and each of the suc19 ceeding 5 fiscal years. 

20 ‘‘(b) RESERVATION.—The Secretary may reserve not 

21 more than 3 percent of the funds appropriated to carry 

22 out this subpart for any one fiscal year for the cost of 

23 the evaluation under section 2373(b) and for technical as24 sistance and program outreach.’’. 

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