I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 949

To provide funds to States to establish and administer periodic teacher

testing and merit pay programs for elementary and secondary school teachers.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 8, 2001

Mr. FOSSELLA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To provide funds to States to establish and administer periodic teacher testing and merit pay programs for elementary and secondary school 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; FINDINGS; AND PURPOSES.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Measures to Encourage Results in Teaching Act of

6 2001’’.

7 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings:

9 (1) All students deserve to be taught by well10 educated, competent, and qualified teachers.
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1 (2) More than ever before, education has and

2 will continue to become the ticket not only to eco3 nomic success but to basic survival. Students will

4 not succeed in meeting the demands of a knowledge5 based, 21st century society and economy if the stu6 dents do not encounter more challenging work in

7 school. For future generations to have the opportu8 nities to achieve success the future generations will

9 need to have an education and a teacher workforce

10 second to none.

11 (3) No other intervention can make the dif12 ference that a knowledgeable, skillful teacher can

13 make in the learning process. At the same time,

14 nothing can fully compensate for weak teaching that,

15 despite good intentions, can result from a teacher’s

16 lack of opportunity to acquire the knowledge and

17 skill needed to help students master the curriculum.

18 (4) The Federal Government established the

19 Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development

20 Program in 1985 to ensure that teachers and other

21 educational staff have access to sustained and high22 quality professional development. This ongoing de23 velopment must include the ability to demonstrate

24 and judge the performance of teachers and other in25 structional staff.
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1 (5) States should evaluate their teachers on the

2 basis of demonstrated ability, including tests of sub3 ject matter knowledge, teaching knowledge, and

4 teaching skill. States should develop a test for their

5 teachers and other instructional staff with respect to

6 the subjects taught by the teachers and staff, and

7 should administer the test every 3 to 5 years.

8 (6) Evaluating and rewarding teachers with a

9 compensation system that supports teachers who be10 come increasingly expert in a subject area, are pro11 ficient in meeting the needs of students and schools,

12 and demonstrate high levels of performance meas13 ured against professional teaching standards, will

14 encourage teachers to continue to learn needed skills

15 and broaden teachers’ expertise, thereby enhancing

16 education for all students.

17 (c) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol18 lows:

19 (1) To provide incentives for States to establish

20 and administer periodic teacher testing and merit

21 pay programs for elementary school and secondary

22 school teachers.

23 (2) To encourage States to establish merit pay

24 programs that have a significant impact on teacher

25 salary scales.
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1 (3) To encourage programs that recognize and

2 reward the best teachers, and encourage those teach3 ers that need to do better.

4 SEC. 2. STATE INCENTIVES FOR TEACHER TESTING AND

5 MERIT PAY.

6 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Title II of the Elementary and

7 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et

8 seq.) is amended—

9 (1) by redesignating part E as part F;

10 (2) by redesignating sections 2401 and 2402 as

11 sections 2501 and 2502, respectively; and

12 (3) by inserting after part D the following:

13 ‘‘PART E—STATE INCENTIVES FOR TEACHER

14 TESTING AND MERIT PAY

15 ‘‘SEC. 2401. STATE INCENTIVES FOR TEACHER TESTING

16 AND MERIT PAY.

17 ‘‘(a) STATE AWARDS.—Notwithstanding any other

18 provision of this title, from funds described in subsection

19 (b) that are made available for a fiscal year, the Secretary

20 shall make an award to each State that—

21 ‘‘(1) administers a test to each elementary

22 school and secondary school teacher in the State,

23 with respect to the subjects taught by the teacher,

24 every 3 to 5 years; and
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1 ‘‘(2) has an elementary school and secondary

2 school teacher compensation system that is based on

3 merit.

4 ‘‘(b) AVAILABLE FUNDING.—The amount of funds

5 referred to in subsection (a) that are available to carry

6 out this section for a fiscal year is 50 percent of the

7 amount of funds appropriated to carry out this title that

8 are in excess of the amount so appropriated for fiscal year

9 2001, except that no funds shall be available to carry out

10 this section for any fiscal year for which—

11 ‘‘(1) the amount appropriated to carry out this

12 title exceeds $600,000,000; or

13 ‘‘(2) each of the several States is eligible to re14 ceive an award under this section.

15 ‘‘(c) AWARD AMOUNT.—A State shall receive an

16 award under this section in an amount that bears the

17 same relation to the total amount available for awards

18 under this section for a fiscal year as the number of States

19 that are eligible to receive such an award for the fiscal

20 year bears to the total number of all States so eligible for

21 the fiscal year.

22 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds provided under this

23 section may be used by States to carry out the activities

24 described in section 2207.
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1 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION OF STATE.—For the purpose of

2 this section, the term ‘State’ means each of the 50 States

3 and the District of Columbia.’’.

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

5 subsection (a) shall take effect on October 1, 2001.

6 SEC. 3. TEACHER TESTING AND MERIT PAY.

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi8 sion of law, a State may use Federal education funds—

9 (1) to carry out a test of each elementary

10 school or secondary school teacher in the State with

11 respect to the subjects taught by the teacher; or

12 (2) to establish a merit pay program for the

13 teachers.

14 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘ele15 mentary school’’ and ‘‘secondary school’’ have the mean16 ings given the terms in section 14101 of the Elementary

17 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

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