I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1629

To provide grants to rural eligible local educational agencies to enable the

agencies to recruit and retain qualified teachers.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 29, 1999

Mrs. CLAYTON (for herself, Mr. CLAY, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. PRICE of North

Carolina, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr.

SANDERS, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. BOUCHER, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. COSTELLO,

Mr. TOWNS, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. OWENS, Mr. GEORGE MILLER

of California, Mr. FORD, Mr. FROST, Mr. WU, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. JOHN, Ms. WOOLSEY,

Mr. TURNER, Mrs. THURMAN, Mr. HOLDEN, and Mrs. CHRISTENSEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To provide grants to rural eligible local educational agencies

to enable the agencies to recruit and retain qualified

teachers.

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 ‘‘Rural Teachers Re5 cruitment Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

2 The Secretary is authorized to provide grants to rural

3 eligible local educational agencies to enable the agencies

4 to recruit and retain qualified teachers for elementary and

5 secondary schools.

6 SEC. 3. GRANT AWARDS.

7 (a) RURAL ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN8 CIES.—To be eligible to receive a grant under this Act,

9 a rural eligible local educational agency shall—

10 (1) submit an application to the Secretary at

11 such time, in such manner, and containing such in12 formation as the Secretary may reasonably require;

13 and

14 (2) demonstrate a need to recruit and retain

15 additional qualified elementary and secondary teach16 ers.

17 (b) GRANT AMOUNT.—Each grant award made under

18 this Act shall be of sufficient size to enable a grantee to

19 develop incentive programs to recruit and retain qualified

20 teachers.

21 SEC. 4. USES OF FUNDS.

22 A rural eligible local educational agency that receives

23 a grant award under this Act may use such funds received

24 to develop incentive programs to recruit and retain quali25 fied teachers which may include—

26 (1) salary increases;
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1 (2) reimbursement for teacher certification ex2 penses;

3 (3) assistance to pay college tuition expenses;

4 (4) assistance to pay graduate school tuition

5 and training expenses; and

6 (5) reimbursement for relocation expenses.

7 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS.

8 For purposes of this Act:

9 (1) the term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the

10 same meaning given such term in section 14101(18)

11 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

12 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(18));

13 (2) the term ‘‘metropolitan statistical area’’ has

14 the same meaning given such term by the Bureau of

15 the Census;

16 (3) the term ‘‘rural eligible educational agency’’

17 means a local educational agency—

18 (A) that is not located in a metropolitan

19 statistical area; and

20 (B) in which 20 percent or more of the

21 children, ages 5 through 17, served by such

22 agency are from families below the poverty

23 level, as determined by the Secretary; and

24 (4) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

25 of Education.
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1 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

3 this Act $250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2000 and

4 2001, $400,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002 and

5 2003, and $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.

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