I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6472 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish 

a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee and a Volunteer Parents and 

Families Advisory Committee. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 7, 2016 

Miss RICE of New York (for herself and Ms. STEFANIK) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 

Workforce 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 to establish a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee and a Volunteer Parents and Families Advisory 

Committee. 

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 ‘‘Teachers and Parents 

5 at the Table Act’’. 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 6472 IH

1 SEC. 2. VOLUNTEER TEACHER ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 

2 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

3 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

4 after section 1004 (20 U.S.C. 6304) the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 1005. VOLUNTEER TEACHER ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 

6 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds as follows: 

7 ‘‘(1) Expert teachers offer an important re8 source to policymakers as they can bring their exper9 tise and perspective from the classroom to inform 

10 policy so that positive outcomes for all students will 

11 be maximized. 

12 ‘‘(2) State Teachers of the Year represent a 

13 valuable resource with a body of expert knowledge 

14 and skill about instructional practice, 21st century 

15 learning, and school functioning that can be infused 

16 into policymaking to promote better outcomes for 

17 prekindergarten, elementary, and secondary stu18 dents. 

19 ‘‘(3) State Teachers of the Year have been se20 lected by their communities and States as models of 

21 their profession and represent every State in the Na22 tion and every discipline and grade level. 

23 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab24 lish an advisory committee, to be known as the Volunteer 

25 Teacher Advisory Committee (referred to in this section 

26 as the ‘Committee’). 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 6472 IH

1 ‘‘(c) DUTY.—The duty of the Committee shall be to 

2 monitor the effects of this Act, on the ground and in class3 rooms. 

4 ‘‘(d) MEMBERSHIP.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The membership of the 

6 Committee shall consist of 10 teachers employed in 

7 a public elementary school and 10 teachers employed 

8 in a public secondary school who— 

9 ‘‘(A) are past or present finalists or State 

10 Teachers of the Year, or are nominated from 

11 organizations representing teachers and have 

12 demonstrated similar evidence of expertise; 

13 ‘‘(B) have experience working with policy 

14 development; 

15 ‘‘(C) have a demonstrated history of work16 ing as a teacher leader in the policy arena; and 

17 ‘‘(D) have submitted an application to the 

18 Secretary to serve on the Committee. 

19 ‘‘(2) LIST; APPOINTMENT.—The Secretary shall 

20 compile a list of teachers submitting applications 

21 under paragraph (1)(D). The members of the Com22 mittee shall be appointed as follows: 

23 ‘‘(A) The Secretary shall appoint 4 teach24 ers from the list. 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 6472 IH

1 ‘‘(B) The Majority Leader of the Senate 

2 shall appoint 4 teachers from the list. 

3 ‘‘(C) The Minority Leader of the Senate 

4 shall appoint 4 teachers from the list. 

5 ‘‘(D) The Speaker of the House of Rep6 resentatives shall appoint 4 teachers from the 

7 list. 

8 ‘‘(E) The Minority Leader of the House of 

9 Representatives shall appoint 4 teachers from 

10 the list. 

11 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS.— 

12 ‘‘(A) FINALISTS OR STATE TEACHERS OF

13 THE YEAR.—Not less than half of the members 

14 of the Committee shall be past or present final15 ists or State Teachers of the Year. 

16 ‘‘(B) REPRESENTATION REQUIREMENT.— 

17 The members of the Committee shall represent 

18 the diversity of the teaching workforce from 

19 multiple geographic, grade level, and specialty 

20 areas. 

21 ‘‘(4) TERM.—Each member of the Committee 

22 shall serve on the Committee for a 3-year staggered 

23 term. 

24 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REPORT.— 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 6472 IH

1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall sub2 mit to Congress and the Secretary— 

3 ‘‘(A) on an annual basis, a report on the 

4 monitoring carried out under subsection (c); 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(B) on a quarterly basis, updates on such 

7 monitoring. 

8 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report sub9 mitted under paragraph (1) shall include, at a min10 imum, the following: 

11 ‘‘(A) The effects of this Act on the teach12 ing profession. 

13 ‘‘(B) The effects of this Act on schools and 

14 classrooms. 

15 ‘‘(C) The effects of this Act on students, 

16 families, and communities. 

17 ‘‘(D) Recommendations for strengthening 

18 policy and policy implementation in order to 

19 meet the goals of the Act. 

20 ‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—The following 

21 additional requirements shall apply to the Committee: 

22 ‘‘(1) The Committee shall meet in person at 

23 least once per year for deliberation, with all travel 

24 expenses paid for by the Secretary. 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 6472 IH

1 ‘‘(2) The Committee shall be available for con2 sultation with officials at the Department and the 

3 authorizing Committees of Congress regarding the 

4 impact of this Act on students, families, and the 

5 teaching profession. 

6 ‘‘(g) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘State 

7 Teacher of the Year’ means any person who has been rec8 ognized as a State Teacher of the Year by the Council 

9 of Chief State School Officers. 

10 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS.—Of the amounts 

11 appropriated to, and available at the discretion of, the Sec12 retary for programmatic and administrative expenditures 

13 for fiscal years 2017 through 2021, a total of $500,000 

14 shall be used to establish and carry out the functions of 

15 the Committee established under this section.’’. 

16 SEC. 3. VOLUNTEER PARENTS AND FAMILIES ADVISORY 

17 COMMITTEE. 

18 The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 

19 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), as amended by section 2 

20 of this Act, is further amended by inserting after section 

21 1005 (as added by such section 2) the following: 

22 ‘‘SEC. 1006. VOLUNTEER PARENTS AND FAMILIES ADVI23 SORY COMMITTEE. 

24 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following: 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 6472 IH

1 ‘‘(1) Parents and families have a major influ2 ence on their children’s achievement in school and 

3 throughout life. 

4 ‘‘(2) Parents and family members offer an im5 portant resource to policymakers as they provide a 

6 unique perspective as consumers of our Nation’s 

7 public schools. 

8 ‘‘(3) All parents and family members—regard9 less of income, education, or cultural background— 

10 are involved in their child’s learning and want their 

11 child to reach their fullest potential. 

12 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall estab13 lish an advisory committee, to be known as the Volunteer 

14 Parents and Families Advisory Committee (referred to in 

15 this section as the ‘Committee’). 

16 ‘‘(c) DUTIES AND FOCUS.—The duty of the Com17 mittee shall be to monitor the effects of this Act on chil18 dren and families, and review and analyze implementation 

19 of State and local parent and family engagement policies, 

20 school-parent compacts, and other family engagement ac21 tivities described in section 1116 and part E of title IV. 

22 ‘‘(d) MEMBERSHIP.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The membership of the 

24 Committee shall consist of 10 parents or family 

25 members of children enrolled in a public elementary 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 6472 IH

1 school and 10 parents or family members of children 

2 enrolled in a public secondary school who— 

3 ‘‘(A) have a demonstrated history of paren4 tal involvement and family engagement in 

5 schools; and 

6 ‘‘(B) have submitted an application to the 

7 Secretary to serve on the Committee. 

8 ‘‘(2) LIST; APPOINTMENT.—The Secretary shall 

9 compile a list of parents and family members sub10 mitting applications under paragraph (1)(B). The 

11 members of the Committee shall be appointed as fol12 lows: 

13 ‘‘(A) The Secretary shall appoint 4 parents 

14 or family members from the list. 

15 ‘‘(B) The Majority Leader of the Senate 

16 shall appoint 4 parents or family members from 

17 the list. 

18 ‘‘(C) The Minority Leader of the Senate 

19 shall appoint 4 parents or family members from 

20 the list. 

21 ‘‘(D) The Speaker of the House of Rep22 resentatives shall appoint 4 parents or family 

23 members from the list. 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 6472 IH

1 ‘‘(E) The Minority Leader of the House of 

2 Representatives shall appoint 4 parents or fam3 ily members from the list. 

4 ‘‘(3) REPRESENTATION REQUIREMENT.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The members of the 

6 Committee shall represent multiple geographic 

7 areas and a diversity of students, and shall in8 clude at least one parent or family member rep9 resenting each of the following student groups: 

10 ‘‘(i) Economically disadvantaged stu11 dents. 

12 ‘‘(ii) Students from major racial and 

13 ethnic groups. 

14 ‘‘(iii) Children with disabilities. 

15 ‘‘(iv) English learners. 

16 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL CONSIDERATION.—Consider17 ation should also be given to representation of 

18 students’ gender identity and migrant status in 

19 the appointment of members of the Committee. 

20 ‘‘(4) RESEARCH ADVISORS.—The Secretary 

21 may appoint not more than 5 research advisors to 

22 the Committee, such as researchers, practitioners or 

23 representatives from national nonprofit organiza24 tions with expertise in family engagement in eduVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Dec 10, 2016 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6472.IH H6472

smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 6472 IH

1 cation, to make data-driven recommendations re2 garding family engagement in education metrics. 

3 ‘‘(5) TERM.—Each member of the Committee 

4 shall serve on the Committee for a 3-year staggered 

5 term. 

6 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REPORT.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall sub8 mit to Congress and the Secretary— 

9 ‘‘(A) on an annual basis, a report and pol10 icy recommendations on the review and analysis 

11 carried out under subsection (c); and 

12 ‘‘(B) on a quarterly basis, updates on such 

13 review and analysis. 

14 ‘‘(2) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—The report sub15 mitted under paragraph (1) shall include, at a min16 imum, the following: 

17 ‘‘(A) The effects of this Act on students, 

18 families, and communities. 

19 ‘‘(B) The effects of this Act on parental 

20 involvement and family engagement in edu21 cation, including schools and classrooms. 

22 ‘‘(C) Direction for State education authori23 ties and local education authorities for imple24 menting written family engagement policies 

25 under section 1116 and part E of title IV. 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 6472 IH

1 ‘‘(D) Recommendations for strengthening 

2 policy and policy implementation in order to 

3 meet the goals of the Act. 

4 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

5 ‘‘(1) The term ‘family engagement’ means a 

6 shared responsibility of families and schools for stu7 dent success— 

8 ‘‘(A) in which schools and community9 based organizations are committed to reaching 

10 out to engage families in meaningful ways and 

11 families are committed actively to support their 

12 children’s learning and development; 

13 ‘‘(B) that is continuous from birth through 

14 young adulthood; and 

15 ‘‘(C) that reinforces learning that takes 

16 place in the home, school, and community. 

17 ‘‘(2) The term ‘parental involvement’ means the 

18 participation of parents or family members in reg19 ular, two-way, and meaningful communication in20 volving student academic learning and other school 

21 activities, including ensuring— 

22 ‘‘(A) that parents or family members play 

23 an integral role in assisting their child’s learn24 ing; 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 6472 IH

1 ‘‘(B) that parents or family members are 

2 encouraged to be actively involved in their 

3 child’s education at school; 

4 ‘‘(C) that parents or family members are 

5 full partners in their child’s education and are 

6 included, as appropriate, in decisionmaking and 

7 on advisory committees to assist in the edu8 cation of their child; and 

9 ‘‘(D) the carrying out of other activities, 

10 such as those described in section 1116. 

11 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS.—Of the amounts 

12 appropriated to, and available at the discretion of, the Sec13 retary for programmatic and administrative expenditures 

14 for fiscal years 2017 through 2021, a total of $500,000 

15 shall be used to establish and carry out the functions of 

16 the Committee established under this section.’’. 

Æ 


smartinez on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS