II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2867

To provide for the funding and administration of a Veterans Mission for

Youth Initiative within the Troops-to-Teachers Program.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 13, 2000

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

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

A BILL

To provide for the funding and administration of a Veterans

Mission for Youth Initiative within the Troops-to-Teachers Program.

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 ‘‘Veterans Mission for

5 Youth Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:

8 (1) Since 1994, 17,148 retired members of the

9 United States Armed Forces have applied to partici10 pate in the Troops-to-Teachers program and 3,720
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1 such members have been hired as teachers in 50

2 States.

3 (2) The mission of the Troops-to-Teachers pro4 gram is to help improve American Education by pro5 viding mature, motivated, experienced, and dedicated

6 personnel for the nation’s classrooms.

7 (3) The Troops-to-Teachers program provides

8 positive role models for the nation’s public school

9 students.

10 (4) Ninety percent of Troops-to-Teachers par11 ticipants are male, compared to 26 percent of the

12 existing teaching force.

13 (5) Nearly 30 percent of Troops-to-Teachers

14 participants are minorities compared to 10 percent

15 in the existing teaching force.

16 (6) The Troops-to-Teachers program helps re17 lieve teacher shortages, especially in the subjects of

18 math and science.

19 (7) School administrators who work with

20 Troops-to-Teachers participants were asked to rate

21 such participants in their schools, 54 percent of such

22 administrators said that the former military per23 sonnel turned teachers were well above average or

24 were among the best teachers at the schools.
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1 (8) The 1999 Alternative Teacher Certification

2 study by C, Emily Feistritzer found that 30 percent

3 of Troops-to-Teachers participants are minorities

4 compared to 10 percent of all teachers, 30 percent

5 are teaching math compared to 13 percent of all

6 teachers, 25 percent teach in urban schools, and 90

7 percent are male compared to the current teaching

8 force which is 74 percent female.

9 (9) America’s 25,000,000 veterans have exhib10 ited the ideals of discipline, order, courage, and civic

11 responsibility that are important lessons for Amer12 ica’s children.

13 (10) The recent survey of American youth, the

14 ‘‘New Millennium Project’’ found that students

15 chose as their 3 lowest-ranking priorities in life—

16 being a good citizen who cares about the good of the

17 country, being involved in democracy and voting,

18 and being involved in helping make one’s community

19 a better place.

20 (11) A recent survey by the Horatio Alger Soci21 ety found that 21 percent of students had no heroes.

22 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF A VETERANS MISSION FOR

23 YOUTH INITIATIVE.

24 Title XVII of the National Defense Authorization Act

25 of Fiscal Year 2000 (commonly known as the Troops-to-
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1 Teachers Program Act of 1999 (20 U.S.C. 9301 et seq.))

2 is amended by adding at the end the following:

3 ‘‘SEC. 1710. VETERANS MISSION FOR YOUTH INITIATIVE.

4 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of Defense,

5 acting through the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional

6 Education Support Division of the Department of De7 fense, shall establish an initiative to be known as the ‘Vet8 erans Mission for Youth Initiative’ to award grants to eli9 gible organizations to provide mentoring, tutoring, after10 school and other programs for youth.

11 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a

13 grant under subsection (a), an organization shall—

14 ‘‘(A) be a community organization that

15 provides, or intends to provide, services to link

16 individuals described in paragraph (2) with

17 youth;

18 ‘‘(B) prepare and submit to the Secretary

19 an application at such time, in such manner,

20 and containing such information as the Sec21 retary may require;

22 ‘‘(C) provides assurances to the Secretary

23 that the organization with provide matching

24 funds as required under paragraph (3); and
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1 ‘‘(D) meet such other requirements as the

2 Secretary may prescribe.

3 ‘‘(2) INDIVIDUALS ELIGIBLE TO PROVIDE SERV4 ICES.—An individual described in this paragraph is

5 any member of the Armed Forces—

6 ‘‘(A) who was—

7 ‘‘(i) discharged or released from active

8 duty after 6 or more years of continuous

9 active duty immediately before the dis10 charge or release; or

11 ‘‘(ii) involuntarily discharged or re12 leased from active duty for purposes of a

13 reduction of force after 6 or more years of

14 continuous active duty immediately before

15 the discharge or release; and

16 ‘‘(B) who’s last period of service in the

17 Armed Forces was characterized as honorable;

18 and

19 ‘‘(C) who satisfies such other criteria for

20 selection as the Secretary may prescribe.

21 ‘‘(3) MATCHING REQUIREMENT.—To be eligible

22 to receive a grant under this section an eligible orga23 nization shall agree to make available (directly or

24 through donations from public or private entities)

25 non-Federal contributions toward the cost of car-
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1 rying out the program established under the grant

2 in an amount equal to the amount provided under

3 the grant.

4 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—An organization shall use

5 amounts provided under a grant under this section to

6 carry out a program to facilitate linkages between individ7 uals described in subsection (b)(2) and youth through the

8 provision by such individuals of mentoring, tutoring, after9 school and other services.

10 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

11 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section,

12 $75,000,000 for fiscal year 2001, and such sums as may

13 be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year.’’.

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