I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3008

To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a competitive demonstration 

grant program to provide funds for local educational agencies to experiment with ways to alleviate the substitute teacher shortage, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 4, 2003

Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. NADLER, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. 

ACEVEDO-VILA ́, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Ms. DELAURO, Ms. MILLENDERMCDONALD, Ms. LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. 

FROST, and Mr. SKELTON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To direct the Secretary of Education to establish a competitive demonstration grant program to provide funds for 

local educational agencies to experiment with ways to 

alleviate the substitute teacher shortage, 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 ‘‘No Substitute for 

5 Quality Teaching Demonstration Act’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 The Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Each day about 5 million children walk into 

4 274,000 classrooms nationwide and find a substitute 

5 teacher. Students will spend the equivalent of one 

6 full year with a substitute teacher before they grad7 uate from high school. 

8 (2) Virtually every State in the country is fac9 ing a substitute teacher shortage, a problem that 

10 has been exacerbated by increased demand for pro11 fessional development opportunities for teachers, in12 cluding the professional development requirements 

13 included in the Elementary and Secondary Edu14 cation Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child 

15 Left Behind Act of 2001. 

16 (3) In 73 percent of school districts, there is an 

17 immediate, urgent need for substitute teachers. 

18 (4) Nationwide, substitute teacher salaries aver19 age only $65 per day. In rural areas, rates are often 

20 as low as $40. Rarely do substitutes receive benefits. 

21 (5) This shortage is likely to grow to a crisis 

22 level within the next 10 years, as an acute shortage 

23 of substitute teachers develops because an unprece24 dented number of children will enter our schools. 

25 (6) The substitute teacher shortage has lead 

26 schools to relax their requirements and hire sub-
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1 stitute teachers that are often underqualified. In all 

2 but one State, substitute teachers need no teaching 

3 certification. 

4 (7) In 28 States, principals may hire anyone 

5 with a high school diploma or a general equivalency 

6 diploma (GED) who is age 18 years or older. 

7 (8) Nearly 12 percent of districts do not require 

8 substitute teachers to fill out a job application. 

9 (9) Over half (56 percent) of school districts 

10 never have a face-to-face interview with potential 

11 substitutes. 

12 (10) In 30 percent of all school districts, no 

13 background checks are conducted on applicants for 

14 substitute teaching positions, and only half the dis15 tricts check applicants’ references. 

16 (11) Poorly trained substitute teachers have a 

17 negative impact on student academic performance. 

18 (12) States with lower academic achievement 

19 are twice as likely to allow less qualified substitutes 

20 in the classroom. Nine out of the ten lowest-ranked 

21 States in National Assessment of Educational 

22 Progress (NAEP) testing allowed substitute teachers 

23 with only a high school diploma to teach in their 

24 schools. In each of those States, education spending 

25 is thousands of dollars below the national average. 
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1 (13) Of the top 25 States in education spend2 ing, 9 require at least a college degree for substitute 

3 teachers. 

4 (14) In 77 percent of school districts across the 

5 country, substitute teachers are given no training at 

6 all. 

7 (15) Alleviating the substitute teacher crisis 

8 would free up precious time for other teachers to 

9 spend in professional development programs. 

10 SEC. 3. DEMONSTRATION GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

11 Subject to the availability of appropriations, the Sec12 retary of Education shall establish a competitive dem13 onstration grant program to provide grants for a single 

14 academic year directly to not fewer than 50 nor more than 

15 100 local educational agencies (as that term is defined in 

16 section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

17 Act of 1965), or to regional consortia of such agencies 

18 acting together, that vary geographically and 

19 socioeconomically, to enable such agencies or consortia to 

20 experiment with ways to alleviate the substitute teacher 

21 shortage described in section 2. 

22 SEC. 4. SELECTION OF GRANT RECIPIENTS. 

23 In selecting grant recipients under section 3, the Sec24 retary of Education shall select applicants that, collec-
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1 tively, will explore a range of options for addressing the 

2 substitute teacher shortage, such as—

3 (1) developing a public relations campaign tar4 geted at likely substitute teacher candidates (such as 

5 retired teachers); 

6 (2) establishing permanent substitute teacher 

7 pools; 

8 (3) addressing issues that hinder the ability of 

9 administrators to find qualified substitute teachers; 

10 or 

11 (4) increasing the availability of content and 

12 skills training for substitute teachers. 

13 SEC. 5. REPORT TO CONGRESS. 

14 Not later than 1 year after the date the last grant 

15 made under section 3 expires, the Secretary of Education 

16 shall submit a report to the Congress describing the find17 ings and results of the demonstration program under this 

18 Act, including—

19 (1) the programs or methods that best allevi20 ated the substitute teacher shortage, and where 

21 those programs or methods worked best; and 

22 (2) the impact of economic conditions on the 

23 quality and availability of substitute teachers. 
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1 SEC. 6. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY. 

2 The Secretary of Education may prescribe rules to 

3 carry out this Act. 

4 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

5 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

6 this Act $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.

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