II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 989

To improve the quality of individuals becoming teachers in elementary and

secondary schools, to make the teaching profession more accessible to

individuals who wish to start a second career, to encourage adults to

share their knowledge and experience with children in the classroom,

to give school officials the flexibility the officials need to hire whom

the officials think can do the job best, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

MAY 6, 1999

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

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

A BILL

To improve the quality of individuals becoming teachers in

elementary and secondary schools, to make the teaching

profession more accessible to individuals who wish to

start a second career, to encourage adults to share their

knowledge and experience with children in the classroom,

to give school officials the flexibility the officials need

to hire whom the officials think can do the job best,

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Alternative Certifi3 cation and Licensure of Teachers Act of 1999’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—

6 (1) the measure of a good teacher is how much

7 and how well the teacher’s students learn;

8 (2) the main teacher quality problem in 1998

9 was the lack of subject matter knowledge;

10 (3) knowledgeable and eager individuals of

11 sound character and various professional back12 grounds should be encouraged to enter the kinder13 garten through grade 12 classrooms as teachers;

14 (4) many talented professionals who have dem15 onstrated a high level of subject area competence

16 outside the education profession may wish to pursue

17 careers in education, but have not fulfilled the tradi18 tional requirements to be certified or licensed as

19 teachers;

20 (5) States should have maximum flexibility and

21 incentives to create alternative teacher certification

22 and licensure programs in order to recruit well-edu23 cated people into the teaching profession; and

24 (6) alternative routes can enable qualified indi25 viduals to fulfill State teacher certification or licen26 sure requirements and will allow school systems to
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1 utilize the expertise of professionals and improve the

2 pool of qualified individuals available to local edu3 cational agencies as teachers.

4 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to im5 prove the supply of well-qualified elementary school and

6 secondary school teachers by encouraging and assisting

7 States to develop and implement programs for alternative

8 routes to teacher certification or licensure requirements.

9 SEC. 3. ALLOTMENTS.

10 (a) ALLOTMENTS TO STATES.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amount appro12 priated to carry out this Act for each fiscal year, the

13 Secretary shall allot to each State the lesser of—

14 (A) the amount the State applies for under

15 section 4; or

16 (B) an amount that bears the same rela17 tion to the amount so appropriated as the total

18 population of children ages 5 through 17 in the

19 State bears to the total population of such chil20 dren in all the States (based on the most recent

21 data available that is satisfactory to the Sec22 retary).

23 (2) REALLOCATION.—If a State does not apply

24 for the State’s allotment, or the full amount of the

25 State’s allotment, under paragraph (1), the Sec-
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1 retary may reallocate the excess funds to 1 or more

2 other States that demonstrate, to the satisfaction of

3 the Secretary, a current need for the funds.

4 (b) SPECIAL RULE.—Notwithstanding section 421(b)

5 of the General Education Provisions Act (20 U.S.C.

6 1225(b)), funds awarded under this Act shall remain

7 available for obligation by a recipient for a period of 2

8 calendar years from the date of the grant.

9 SEC. 4. STATE APPLICATIONS.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any State desiring to receive an

11 allotment under this Act shall, through the State edu12 cational agency, submit an application at such time, in

13 such manner, and containing such information, as the Sec14 retary may reasonably require.

15 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—Each application shall—

16 (1) describe the programs, projects, and activi17 ties to be undertaken with assistance provided under

18 this Act; and

19 (2) contain such assurances as the Secretary

20 considers necessary, including assurances that—

21 (A) assistance provided to the State edu22 cational agency under this Act will be used to

23 supplement, and not to supplant, any State or

24 local funds available for the development and

25 implementation of programs to provide alter-
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1 native routes to fulfilling teacher certification or

2 licensure requirements;

3 (B) the State educational agency has, in

4 developing and designing the application, con5 sulted with—

6 (i) representatives of local educational

7 agencies, including superintendents and

8 school board members (including rep9 resentatives of their professional organiza10 tions if appropriate);

11 (ii) elementary school and secondary

12 school teachers, including representatives

13 of their professional organizations;

14 (iii) schools or departments of edu15 cation within institutions of higher edu16 cation;

17 (iv) parents; and

18 (v) other interested individuals and

19 organizations; and

20 (C) the State educational agency will sub21 mit to the Secretary, at such time as the Sec22 retary may specify, a final report describing the

23 activities carried out with assistance provided

24 under this Act and the results achieved with re25 spect to such activities.
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1 (c) GEPA PROVISIONS INAPPLICABLE.—Sections

2 441 and 442 of the General Education Provisions Act (20

3 U.S.C. 1232d and 1232e), except to the extent that such

4 sections relate to fiscal control and fund accounting proce5 dures, shall not apply to this Act.

6 SEC. 5. USE OF FUNDS.

7 (a) USE OF FUNDS.—

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State educational agency

9 shall use funds provided under this Act to support

10 programs, projects, or activities that develop and im11 plement new, or expand and improve existing, pro12 grams that enable individuals to move to a teaching

13 career in elementary or secondary education from

14 another occupation through an alternative route to

15 teacher certification or licensure.

16 (2) TYPES OF ASSISTANCE.—A State edu17 cational agency may carry out such programs,

18 projects, or activities directly, through contracts, or

19 through grants to local educational agencies, inter20 mediate educational agencies, institutions of higher

21 education, or consortia of such agencies or institu22 tions.

23 (b) USES.—Funds received under this Act may be

24 used for—
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1 (1) the design, development, implementation,

2 and evaluation of programs that enable qualified

3 professionals who have demonstrated a high level of

4 subject area competence outside the education pro5 fession and are interested in entering the education

6 profession to fulfill State teacher certification or li7 censure requirements;

8 (2) the establishment of administrative struc9 tures necessary for the development and implemen10 tation of programs to provide alternative routes to

11 fulfilling State teacher certification or licensure re12 quirements;

13 (3) training of staff, including the development

14 of appropriate support programs, such as mentor

15 programs, for teachers entering the school system

16 through alternative routes to teacher certification or

17 licensure;

18 (4) the development of recruitment strategies;

19 (5) the development of reciprocity agreements

20 between or among States for the certification or li21 censure of teachers; or

22 (6) other programs, projects, and activities

23 that—

24 (A) are designed to meet the purpose of

25 this Act; and
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1 (B) the Secretary determines appropriate.

2 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

3 In this Act:

4 (1) ELEMENTARY SCHOOL; LOCAL EDU5 CATIONAL AGENCY; SECONDARY SCHOOL; SEC6 RETARY; AND STATE EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.—The

7 terms ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local educational agen8 cy’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘Secretary’’, and ‘‘State

9 educational agency’’ have the meanings given the

10 terms in section 14101 of the Elementary and Sec11 ondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

12 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The

13 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the

14 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher

15 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001).

16 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of

17 the several States of the United States, the District

18 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the

19 United States Virgin Islands, Guam, American

20 Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern

21 Mariana Islands.
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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

3 this Act $15,000,000 for fiscal year 2000 and each of the

4 4 succeeding fiscal years.

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