II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3184 

To make grants to States to implement statewide portal initiatives, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 24 (legislative day, JUNE 23), 2008 

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

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To make grants to States to implement statewide portal 

initiatives, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Empowering Teaching 

5 and Learning Through Education Portals Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) 21ST CENTURY SKILLS.—The term ‘‘21st 

9 century skills’’— 


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1 (A) means skills that students need to suc2 ceed in school, work, and life; and 

3 (B) includes— 

4 (i) skills related either to core aca5 demic subjects or to 21st century themes; 

6 (ii) learning and innovation skills, 

7 such as— 

8 (I) creativity and innovation; 

9 (II) critical thinking and problem 

10 solving; or 

11 (III) communication and collabo12 ration; and 

13 (iii) life and career skills to prepare 

14 students for the global economy, such as— 

15 (I) flexibility and adaptability; 

16 (II) productivity and account17 ability; or 

18 (III) leadership and responsi19 bility. 

20 (2) CORE ACADEMIC SUBJECTS; EDUCATIONAL

21 AGENCIES; SCHOOLS; STATE.—The terms ‘‘core aca22 demic subjects’’, ‘‘elementary school’’, ‘‘local edu23 cational agency’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, ‘‘State’’, and 

24 ‘‘State educational agency’’ have the meanings given 


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1 the terms in section 9101 of the Elementary and 

2 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

3 (3) COVERED EDUCATOR.—The term ‘‘covered 

4 educator’’ means a teacher, administrator, or other 

5 professional staff member, at a covered school. 

6 (4) COVERED PARENT.—The term ‘‘covered 

7 parent’’ means the parent of a covered student. 

8 (5) COVERED SCHOOL.—The term ‘‘covered 

9 school’’ means a Head Start agency operating a 

10 Head Start program, or a public school that is a 

11 preschool, elementary school, secondary school, or 

12 institution of higher education (including such an in13 stitution offering a program leading to a bacca14 laureate degree or a program leading to an advanced 

15 degree). 

16 (6) COVERED STUDENT.—The term ‘‘covered 

17 student’’ means a student at a covered school. 

18 (7) COVERED TEACHER.—The term ‘‘covered 

19 teacher’’ means a teacher at a covered school. 

20 (8) EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY.—The term 

21 ‘‘education technology’’ means any technology re22 source that improves the learning, training, and en23 gagement of students or helps teachers learn, im24 prove their knowledge, and practice. 


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1 (9) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

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

3 meaning given the term in sections 101 and 102 of 

4 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001, 

5 1002). 

6 (10) PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.—The 

7 term ‘‘professional development’’ means a resource 

8 or training that increases a teacher’s skills, content 

9 knowledge, or other information that has a positive 

10 impact on student learning. 

11 (11) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

12 means the Secretary of Education. 

13 SEC. 3. GRANTS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants 

15 to eligible States, to pay for the Federal share of the cost 

16 of implementing and maintaining education portal initia17 tives. 

18 (b) AMOUNTS.—The Secretary may award the grants 

19 for periods of not less than 1 year and not more than 3 

20 years. 

21 (c) FEDERAL SHARE.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal share of the 

23 cost described in subsection (a) shall be 50 percent. 

24 (2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The State may 

25 provide the non-Federal share of the cost in cash or 


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1 in kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equipment, 

2 or services. The State may provide the non-Federal 

3 share from State, local, or private sources. 

4 SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS AND AWARDS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

6 under this section for an initiative, a State shall submit 

7 an application to the Secretary at such time, in such man8 ner, and containing such information as the Secretary may 

9 require. 

10 (b) CONTENTS.—The application shall contain, at a 

11 minimum— 

12 (1) a comprehensive plan for the initiative for 

13 which the State seeks the grant, including evidence 

14 that the initiative meets the requirements of sub15 sections (a) and (c) of section 5; 

16 (2) information describing how the State will 

17 provide the non-Federal share of the cost described 

18 in section 3(a), and will continue to provide that 

19 share during the implementation of the initiative and 

20 the remainder of the grant period; 

21 (3) information describing how the State will 

22 meet the maintenance of effort requirements in sec23 tion 6; 


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1 (4) information explaining the protocol the 

2 State will use to ensure safe and legal access to the 

3 education portal; 

4 (5) an assurance that the State has established 

5 or will establish an advisory panel, to provide advice 

6 on the implementation and maintenance of the ini7 tiative, including representatives of leaders in school 

8 districts, leaders at institutions of higher education, 

9 State educational agencies, parents, and teachers; 

10 and 

11 (6) a plan to ensure sufficient statewide band12 width capacity and systems access to implement and 

13 maintain the State education portal. 

14 (c) AWARDS.—In determining the amounts of grants 

15 under this Act, the Secretary— 

16 (1) shall take into consideration the extent to 

17 which a State has developed and implemented an 

18 education portal initiative prior to the date of the 

19 submission of the application involved; but 

20 (2) shall not penalize States that have made 

21 greater progress in developing and implementing 

22 such initiatives. 

23 SEC. 5. USE OF FUNDS. 

24 (a) REQUIRED USES.—A State that receives a grant 

25 under this Act for a fiscal year shall use the funds made 


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1 available through the grant to implement or maintain an 

2 education portal initiative that includes— 

3 (1) collecting and making available— 

4 (A) high quality resources (including data, 

5 tools, and digital media content) for covered 

6 educators, covered students, and covered par7 ents, that support teaching, leading, and learn8 ing, and are, as appropriate, aligned with State 

9 education standards; and 

10 (B) information for covered teachers to use 

11 in assisting covered students to attain skills 

12 such as 21st century skills; and 

13 (2) collecting resources for ongoing and sustain14 able professional development for covered educators, 

15 related to the use of education technology, and mak16 ing the resources available through the implementa17 tion of research-based methods and strategies for 

18 teacher coaching, collaborating, or mentoring. 

19 (b) ALLOWABLE USES.—The State may use the 

20 funds made available through the grant for such an initia21 tive, for a portal that— 

22 (1) gives covered educators access to formative 

23 assessment and other resources to address various 

24 student learning styles, needs, and achievement lev25 els; 


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1 (2) provides an entry point to other information 

2 or services, including information on model examples 

3 of effective classroom practices, subscriptions or 

4 data systems, content standards, lesson plans, 

5 courses of study, engaging interactive media, Web 

6 resources, e-mail list management software, online 

7 portfolios, after-school program resources, and other 

8 educational resources; 

9 (3) provides access to technology-based cur10 riculum resources and tools that promote the teach11 ing and learning of 21st century skills; 

12 (4) enables covered educators to quickly search 

13 for lesson plans, professional development resources, 

14 model examples of effective classroom practices, or 

15 other resources, by content standard, grade level, or 

16 topic; 

17 (5) provides an online support network or com18 munity for covered educators to collaborate on and 

19 discuss teaching, learning, curricula, and experi20 ences, and serves as a communication tool between 

21 covered educators and covered parents; 

22 (6) includes digital media content developed by 

23 a television public broadcasting entity in coordina24 tion with the grant recipient; or 


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1 (7) makes available access to 1 or more re2 source sections of the education portal, subject to 

3 the protocol described in section 4(b)(4), by covered 

4 education, covered students, and covered parents, 

5 from other States (with no requirement for State6 specific log-ins), so that those covered educators, 

7 covered students, and covered parents can benefit 

8 from resources developed in the State, thereby ex9 panding access to the national learning community. 

10 (c) PROVISION OF AND ACCESS TO RESOURCES.— 

11 The covered educators, covered students, and covered par12 ents in the State may provide resources and information 

13 for the education portal, subject to the protocol described 

14 in section 4(b)(4). The resources and information in the 

15 education portal shall be accessible statewide by the edu16 cators, students, and parents, subject to the protocol. 

17 (d) OTHER FEDERAL FUNDS.—A State that receives 

18 a grant under part A of title II of the Elementary and 

19 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et 

20 seq.) may use funds made available through that grant 

21 to maintain (but not implement) the State’s education 

22 portal initiative under this Act, after the end of the period 

23 in which the State receives funding under this Act. 

24 (e) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 2113(a) of 

25 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 


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1 U.S.C. 6613(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘A’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘Subject to section 5 of the Empowering Teaching and 

3 Learning Through Education Portals Act, a’’. 

4 SEC. 6. MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives a grant 

6 under this Act for a fiscal year shall maintain the expendi7 tures of the State for education portal initiatives at a level 

8 not less than the level of such expenditures of the State 

9 for the fiscal year preceding the first fiscal year for which 

10 the State received such a grant. 

11 (b) REDUCTION.—If the Secretary determines that a 

12 State, during a fiscal year, expends less than the sum re13 quired to comply with subsection (a), the Secretary shall— 

14 (1) determine the difference between the re15 quired sum and the expenditure; and 

16 (2) reduce the State’s grant under this Act for 

17 the following year by the amount of the difference. 

18 SEC. 7. EVALUATIONS AND CONFERENCE. 

19 (a) FEDERAL EVALUATION.—The Secretary shall 

20 conduct an evaluation of each initiative funded under this 

21 Act. The Secretary shall submit a report containing the 

22 results of the evaluation to Congress. 

23 (b) FEDERAL CONFERENCE.—Not less often than 

24 once every 2 years, the Secretary shall hold a conference 

25 for advisory panels described in section 4(b)(5), to share 


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1 information on best practices relating to education portal 

2 initiatives. 

3 (c) STATE EVALUATIONS.—Each State that receives 

4 a grant under this Act shall conduct an evaluation of the 

5 initiative funded under the grant, using funds provided as 

6 part of the non-Federal share of the costs described in 

7 section 3(a). The State shall prepare and submit to the 

8 Secretary a report containing the results of the evaluation. 

9 SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

11 this Act $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2009 

12 through 2012, and such sums as may be necessary for 

13 each of the following 2 fiscal years. 

14 SEC. 9. SPECIAL RULES RELATING TO CORPORATE CHARI15 TABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION POR16 TAL PROJECTS OF ELIGIBLE STATES. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of Section 170(b) 

18 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (related to percent19 age limitations) is amended by redesignating subpara20 graphs (C) and (D), respectively, and by inserting after 

21 subparagraph (A) the following new subparagraph: 

22 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR CORPORATE CON23 TRIBUTIONS TO EDUCATION PORTAL PROJECTS

24 OF ELIGIBLE STATES.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of 

2 qualified education portal project contribu3 tions— 

4 ‘‘(I) subparagraph (A) shall be 

5 applied separately with respect to 

6 such contributions and with respect to 

7 other charitable contributions of the 

8 taxpayer, and 

9 ‘‘(II) in applying subparagraph 

10 (A) to such qualified education portal 

11 project contributions, subparagraph 

12 (A) shall be applied by substituting 

13 ‘50 percent’ for ‘10 percent’. 

14 ‘‘(ii) QUALIFIED EDUCATION PORTAL

15 PROJECT CONTRIBUTION.—For purposes 

16 of this paragraph, the term ‘qualified edu17 cation portal project contribution’ means a 

18 charitable contribution in cash— 

19 ‘‘(I) to a State (as defined in sec20 tion 2 of the Empowering Teaching 

21 and Learning Through Education 

22 Portals Act) which has a grant appli23 cation approved under section 4 of 

24 such Act, and 


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1 ‘‘(II) for the purpose of paying 

2 the non-Federal share of the cost of 

3 implementing and maintaining edu4 cation portal initiatives (within the 

5 meaning of section 3 of such Act).’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall apply to contributions made after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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