I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 736 

To authorize the appropriation of funds to be used to recruit, hire, and 

train 100,000 new classroom paraprofessionals in order to improve educational achievement for children. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2015 

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

Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To authorize the appropriation of funds to be used to recruit, 

hire, and train 100,000 new classroom paraprofessionals 

in order to improve educational achievement for children. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 

4 The Congress finds the following: 

5 (1) Paraprofessionals are not substitutes for 

6 certified teachers. 

7 (2) Small class size is fundamental to all learn8 ing, but particularly in the early grades. 


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1 (3) Putting more adults in the classroom helps 

2 to increase the attention paid to each student and to 

3 improve discipline. 

4 (4) Expanding the availability of entry-level 

5 classroom jobs that include opportunities for train6 ing and professional development should encourage 

7 more adults to enter teacher training and careers in 

8 education. 

9 SEC. 2. FUNDS FOR RECRUITING, HIRING, AND TRAINING 

10 PARAPROFESSIONALS. 

11 (a) STATE ALLOCATIONS.—From the amount appro12 priated to carry out this Act for each fiscal year, the Sec13 retary of Education— 

14 (1) shall make available 1 percent of such 

15 amount to the Secretary of the Interior (on behalf 

16 of the Bureau of Indian Affairs) and the outlying 

17 areas for activities under this Act; and 

18 (2) shall allocate the remainder by providing 

19 each State the same percentage of that remainder as 

20 it received of the funds allocated to States under 

21 section 306(a)(2) of the Departments of Labor, 

22 Health and Human Services, and Education, and 

23 Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, as en24 acted by section 1(a)(1) of Public Law 106–554. 


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1 (b) LOCAL AGENCY ALLOCATIONS.—Each State that 

2 receives funds under this Act shall distribute 100 percent 

3 of such funds to local educational agencies, of which— 

4 (1) 80 percent of such amount shall be allo5 cated to local educational agencies in proportion to 

6 the number of children, aged 5 to 17, who reside in 

7 the school district served by a local educational 

8 agency from families with incomes below the poverty 

9 line (as defined by the Office of Management and 

10 Budget and revised annually in accordance with sec11 tion 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant 

12 Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) applicable to a family of 

13 the size involved for the most recent fiscal year for 

14 which satisfactory data are available compared to 

15 the number of such individuals who reside in the 

16 school districts served by all the local educational 

17 agencies in the State for that fiscal year; and 

18 (2) 20 percent of such amount shall be allo19 cated to local educational agencies in accordance 

20 with the relative enrollments of children, aged 5 to 

21 17, in public and private nonprofit elementary and 

22 secondary schools within the boundaries of such 

23 agencies. 

24 (c) USES OF FUNDS.— 


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1 (1) PURPOSE.—The basic purpose and intent of 

2 this Act is to decrease the ratio of students to per3 sonnel in public elementary and secondary school 

4 classrooms by assisting local educational agencies in 

5 the recruitment, hiring, and training of 100,000 new 

6 classroom paraprofessionals. Each local educational 

7 agency that receives funds under this Act shall use 

8 such funds to carry out effective approaches to 

9 achieving such ratio reductions in order to improve 

10 educational achievement for both regular and special 

11 needs children, with particular consideration given to 

12 making such reductions in the early elementary 

13 grades. 

14 (2) RECRUITMENT, HIRING, AND TRAINING.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational 

16 agency that receives funds under this Act— 

17 (i) may use up to 100 percent of the 

18 funds under this Act for recruiting (includ19 ing through the use of signing bonuses and 

20 other financial incentives), hiring, and 

21 training paraprofessionals to assist teach22 ers, including teachers employed in bilin23 gual education, special education, and mi24 grant education; and 


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1 (ii) may use up to 25 percent of the 

2 funds under this Act— 

3 (I) for providing professional de4 velopment (which may include such 

5 activities as those described in section 

6 2210 of the Elementary and Sec7 ondary Education Act of 1965 (as in 

8 effect on the day before the date of 

9 the enactment of the No Child Left 

10 Behind Act of 2001 (Public Law 107– 

11 110; 115 Stat. 1425)), opportunities 

12 for paraprofessionals to attend multi13 week institutes, such as those made 

14 available during the summer months, 

15 that provide intensive professional de16 velopment in partnership with local 

17 educational agencies, and initiatives 

18 that promote retention and men19 toring), to paraprofessionals, includ20 ing paraprofessionals who assist 

21 teachers employed in bilingual edu22 cation, special education, and migrant 

23 education; or 

24 (II) to provide assistance to new 

25 and existing paraprofessionals to enVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:32 Feb 12, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H736.IH H736

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1 sure that such individuals are highly 

2 qualified consistent with the require3 ments of subsections (c) and (d) of 

4 section 1119 of the Elementary and 

5 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

6 U.S.C. 6319). 

7 (B) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a local 

8 educational agency that has already reduced the 

9 ratio of students to instructional personnel in 

10 grades kindergarten through 3 to 18 or less (or 

11 has already reduced such ratio to a State or 

12 local goal that was in effect on the day before 

13 the enactment of the Departments of Labor, 

14 Health and Human Services, and Education, 

15 and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 

16 (Public Law 106–554; 114 Stat. 2763), if that 

17 State or local educational agency goal is 20 or 

18 less) may use 100 percent of the funds received 

19 under this Act— 

20 (i) to make further student-to-per21 sonnel ratio reductions in grades kinder22 garten through 3; 

23 (ii) to reduce the student-to-personnel 

24 ratio in other grades; 


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1 (iii) to carry out activities to improve 

2 paraprofessional quality, including profes3 sional development; or 

4 (iv) to assist paraprofessionals to ob5 tain the education necessary to become li6 censed and certified teachers. 

7 (3) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Each local 

8 educational agency that receives funds under this 

9 Act shall use such funds only to supplement, and not 

10 to supplant, State and local funds that, in the ab11 sence of funds under this Act, would otherwise be 

12 spent for activities under this Act. 

13 (4) LIMITATION.—No funds made available 

14 under this Act may be used to increase the salaries 

15 or provide benefits, other than participation in pro16 fessional development, education, or enrichment pro17 grams, to paraprofessionals who are not hired under 

18 this Act. 

19 (d) REPORTING.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State receiving funds 

21 under this Act shall submit to the Secretary on a bi22 ennial basis a report containing data on the use of 

23 funds, the types of services furnished, and the stu24 dents served under this Act. 


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1 (2) REPORTS TO PARENTS.—Each State and 

2 local educational agency receiving funds under this 

3 Act shall publicly report to parents on its progress 

4 in decreasing the ratio of students to personnel in el5 ementary and secondary school classrooms by re6 cruiting, hiring, and training paraprofessionals and 

7 on the impact such activities have had, if any, on in8 creasing student academic achievement. 

9 (3) DISCLOSURE OF QUALIFICATIONS.—Each 

10 school receiving funds under this Act shall provide 

11 to parents, upon request, the qualifications of each 

12 member of their child’s classroom instructional staff. 

13 (e) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—A local educational 

14 agency that receives funds under this Act may use not 

15 more than 2 percent of such funds for local administrative 

16 costs. 

17 (f) APPLICATION.—Each local educational agency 

18 that desires to receive funds under this Act shall include 

19 in the application required under section 5133 of the Ele20 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

21 7215b) a description of the agency’s program to reduce 

22 the ratio of students to personnel in elementary and sec23 ondary school classrooms by recruiting, hiring, and train24 ing paraprofessionals. 

25 (g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act: 


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1 (1) The term ‘‘paraprofessional’’ means an indi2 vidual who is employed in a public elementary or 

3 secondary school under the supervision of a certified 

4 or licensed teacher, including individuals employed 

5 in bilingual education, special education, and mi6 grant education. 

7 (2) The term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has 

8 the meaning given to that term in section 9101 of 

9 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

10 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

11 (3) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

12 of Education. 

13 (4) The term ‘‘State’’ is defined as that term 

14 is used in section 306(a)(2) of the Departments of 

15 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, 

16 and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, as 

17 enacted by section 1(a)(1) of Public Law 106–554. 

18 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 

19 out this Act, there is authorized to be appropriated 

20 $1,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 

21 2020. 

Æ 


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