II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1565 

To support the preparation and retention of outstanding educators in all 

fields to ensure a bright future for children in under-resourced, underserved communities in the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 13, 2017 

Mr. FRANKEN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To support the preparation and retention of outstanding 

educators in all fields to ensure a bright future for 

children in under-resourced, underserved communities in 

the United States, 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 ‘‘Supporting Future 

5 Educators Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ESEA DEFINITIONS.—The terms ‘‘dual or 

2 concurrent enrollment program’’, ‘‘elementary 

3 school’’, ‘‘local educational agency’’, and ‘‘secondary 

4 school’’ have the meanings given the terms in section 

5 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

6 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

7 (2) CERTIFIED TEACHER.—The term ‘‘certified 

8 teacher’’ means an individual who possesses a docu9 ment certifying that the individual has met the re10 quirements of a State for employment as a teacher 

11 in the public schools of that State. 

12 (3) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘‘eligible enti13 ty’’ means a local educational agency (or a consor14 tium of such agencies) partnered with an institution 

15 of higher education. 

16 (4) QUALIFIED MENTOR TEACHER.—The term 

17 ‘‘qualified mentor teacher’’ means an educator who 

18 meets a minimum set of qualification standards as 

19 determined by the Secretary. 

20 (5) TEACHING RESIDENCY PROGRAM.—The 

21 term ‘‘teaching residency program’’ has the meaning 

22 given the term in section 200 of the Higher Edu23 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1021), except that 

24 such term shall not include the requirement that the 


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1 prospective teacher acquire a master’s degree not 

2 later than 18 months after beginning the program. 

3 (6) RURAL AREA.—The term ‘‘rural area’’ has 

4 the meaning given the term in section 343(a)(13)(A) 

5 of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development 

6 Act (7 U.S.C. 1991(a)(13)(A)). 

7 (7) RURAL SCHOOL DISTRICT.—The term 

8 ‘‘rural school district’’ means a school district that 

9 serves 1 or more schools located in a rural area. 

10 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

11 the Secretary of Education. 

12 SEC. 3. STRENGTHEN-OUR-SCHOOLS GRANT PROGRAM. 

13 (a) STRENGTHEN-OUR-SCHOOLS GRANT PROGRAM

14 ESTABLISHED.— 

15 (1) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—From amounts ap16 propriated to carry out this section, the Secretary 

17 shall establish a Strengthen-Our-Schools Grant Pro18 gram, through which the Secretary shall award 

19 grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible entities. 

20 (2) DURATION.—A grant awarded under this 

21 section— 

22 (A) shall be for a period of 5 years; and 

23 (B) may be renewed if the eligible entity 

24 demonstrates sufficient positive outcomes and 


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1 evidence of potential for continued success in 

2 achieving the goals of the initial grant. 

3 (b) APPLICATION AND APPROVAL.— 

4 (1) APPLICATION.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity desir6 ing a grant under this section shall submit an 

7 application to the Secretary at such time, in 

8 such manner, and containing such information 

9 as the Secretary may require. 

10 (B) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 

11 under subparagraph (A) shall— 

12 (i) describe the activities for which as13 sistance under this section is sought; 

14 (ii) provide such additional assurances 

15 as the Secretary determines to be essential 

16 to ensure compliance with the require17 ments of this section; and 

18 (iii) if seeking support for a teaching 

19 residency program, demonstrate that the 

20 institution of higher education that is a 

21 partner in the eligible entity is approved to 

22 prepare candidates for State teaching li23 censure. 


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1 (2) APPROVAL.—The Secretary shall approve 

2 any application for a program that includes the com3 ponents described in paragraph (1). 

4 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant under 

5 this section may use the grant fund to help cover the costs 

6 associated with— 

7 (1) teaching residency programs, including— 

8 (A) resident tuition; 

9 (B) resident salaries; 

10 (C) mentor teacher incentives; 

11 (D) facilities or infrastructure for a dis12 tance learning classroom within the school for 

13 onsite coursework and practical learning; and 

14 (E) any other purpose that the Secretary 

15 determines appropriate. 

16 (2) fulfilling additional credit requirements 

17 needed for a teacher to become licensed in a second 

18 subject area or earn an additional qualification that 

19 meets a specific need of the school in which the 

20 teacher is employed; 

21 (3) fulfilling additional credit requirements 

22 needed to qualify teachers to teach dual or concur23 rent enrollment programs; and 


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1 (4) housing supplements or special housing pro2 grams to support prospective teachers who complete 

3 student teaching placements in high-need districts. 

4 (d) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants that propose to 

5 cover costs associated with teacher residency programs, 

6 the Secretary shall give priority to eligible entities that 

7 propose to carry out a program designed to prepare the 

8 following school employees for teaching licensure: 

9 (1) Paraprofessionals. 

10 (2) Other employees of the school community 

11 employed on the date of the determination. 

12 (e) AWARD BASIS.—In awarding grants under this 

13 section, the Secretary shall ensure that, to the extent prac14 ticable based on the applications received under subsection 

15 (b), not less than 10 percent of the grant funds available 

16 to carry out this section are designated for uses that ad17 dress teacher shortage challenges in rural school districts. 

18 SEC. 4. NATIONAL DATABASE OF QUALIFIED MENTOR 

19 TEACHERS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall create a na21 tional database of qualified mentor teachers who can pro22 vide student teacher supervision to participants in teacher 

23 preparation programs during their student teaching place24 ment. 


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1 (b) DATABASE.—Each qualified mentor teacher data2 base entry shall include— 

3 (1) basic information on the educational back4 ground and professional experience of the mentor, 

5 including details of the subject areas and grade lev6 els the mentor is licensed to teach; 

7 (2) a description of the subject areas and grade 

8 levels the mentor feels most comfortable mentoring; 

9 and 

10 (3) a brief teaching philosophy statement. 

11 (c) AVAILABILITY.—The database shall be available 

12 as a resource for teacher preparation programs to allow 

13 for prospective teachers to complete student teaching in 

14 a location outside of the staffing area of the teacher prepa15 ration program. 

16 SEC. 5. SENSE OF THE SENATE. 

17 It is the sense of the Senate that teaching be formally 

18 recognized as a career pathway that is part of ‘‘career and 

19 technical education’’ as defined in section 3 of the Carl 

20 D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 

21 (20 U.S.C. 2302), allowing early career pathway programs 

22 in education, offered at the secondary school level and of23 fering college credit toward pursuing a teaching licensure 


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1 program, to be eligible for funds available through pro2 grams that support career and technical education. 

Æ 


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