II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 583 

To create a competitive grant program for States to enable the States to 

award salary bonuses to highly qualified elementary school or secondary 

school teachers who teach, or commit to teach, for at least 3 academic 

years in a school served by a rural local educational agency. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 14, 2007 

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

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

A BILL 

To create a competitive grant program for States to enable 

the States to award salary bonuses to highly qualified 

elementary school or secondary school teachers who 

teach, or commit to teach, for at least 3 academic years 

in a school served by a rural local educational agency. 

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 Teacher Reten5 tion Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
2 

•S 583 IS

1 (1) More than 8,000,000 children, representing 

2 21 percent of all public school children in the United 

3 States, attend public schools in rural areas. 

4 (2) There are 24,123 public schools in rural 

5 areas of the United States, representing 31 percent 

6 of all public schools. 

7 (3) More than 400,000 educators, or 31 percent 

8 of all public school teachers, teach in rural schools. 

9 (4) Rural school teachers earn approximately 

10 14 percent less than their counterparts in other re11 gions. 

12 (5) Despite lower salaries, rural school teachers 

13 typically teach multiple subjects and perform their 

14 jobs with fewer resources than their counterparts in 

15 other regions. 

16 (6) One of the most critical challenges facing 

17 rural school districts is in attracting and retaining 

18 qualified teachers. 

19 (7) Rural school districts tend to have higher 

20 teacher turnover rates than school districts in other 

21 regions. 

22 (8) High teacher turnover has a negative im23 pact on student performance, school district per24 formance, and the ability of teachers to become 

25 highly qualified. 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
3 

•S 583 IS

1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) CHILD WITH A DISABILITY.—The term 

4 ‘‘child with a disability’’ has the meaning given the 

5 term in section 602 of the Individuals with Disabil6 ities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401). 

7 (2) HIGHLY QUALIFIED.—Except as provided in 

8 paragraph (3), the term ‘‘highly qualified’’ when 

9 used with respect to a teacher, has the meaning 

10 given the term in section 9101 of the Elementary 

11 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

12 7801). 

13 (3) HIGHLY QUALIFIED SPECIAL EDUCATION

14 TEACHER.—The term ‘‘highly qualified’’ when used 

15 with respect to a special education teacher, has the 

16 meaning given the term in section 602 of the Indi17 viduals with Disabilities Education Act. 

18 (4) LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENT.—The term 

19 ‘‘limited English proficient’’ has the meaning given 

20 the term in section 9101 of the Elementary and Sec21 ondary Education Act of 1965. 

22 (5) LOW-INCOME STUDENT.—The term ‘‘low-in23 come student’’ means a child eligible to be counted 

24 under section 1124(c)(1)(A) of the Elementary and 

25 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

26 6333(c)(1)(A)). 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
4 

•S 583 IS

1 (6) MIGRATORY CHILD.—The term ‘‘migratory 

2 child’’ has the meaning given the term in section 

3 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education 

4 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6399). 

5 (7) RURAL LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara7 graph (B), the term ‘‘rural local educational 

8 agency’’ means a local educational agency 

9 that— 

10 (i)(I) is described in section 6211(b), 

11 6221(b)(1), or 9101(26)(C) of the Elemen12 tary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

13 (20 U.S.C. 7345(b), 7351(b)(1), 

14 7801(26)(C)); or 

15 (II) serves a high number or percent16 age of children who are Native Hawaiian 

17 as defined in section 7207(1) of the Ele18 mentary and Secondary Education Act of 

19 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7517(1)); and 

20 (ii) has experienced a teacher turnover 

21 rate of not less than 10 percent of all the 

22 teachers teaching in the schools served by 

23 the local educational agency in any of the 

24 3 academic years preceding the date of en25 actment of this Act. 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
5 

•S 583 IS

1 (B) COUNTY RULE.—If a local educational 

2 agency serves 2 or more counties in their en3 tirety, then each county shall be treated as if 

4 such county were a separate local educational 

5 agency for purposes of determinations under 

6 subparagraph (A). 

7 (8) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

8 the Secretary of Education. 

9 SEC. 4. PILOT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

10 (a) GRANTS.—From amounts appropriated under 

11 section 6 for each fiscal year, the Secretary shall carry 

12 out a 5-year pilot program under which the Secretary 

13 awards grants, on a competitive basis, to not more than 

14 10 States to enable the States to award salary bonuses 

15 to highly qualified teachers or highly qualified special edu16 cation teachers who teach, or commit to teach, for at least 

17 3 academic years, in an elementary school or secondary 

18 school served by the same rural local educational agency. 

19 (b) AWARD BASIS.—The Secretary shall award 

20 grants under this section on the basis of the needs of rural 

21 local educational agencies within a State for recruiting 

22 and retaining highly qualified teachers or highly qualified 

23 special education teachers. 

24 (c) CONSIDERATION OF NEEDS.—In determining the 

25 needs of rural local educational agencies for recruiting and 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
6 

•S 583 IS

1 retaining highly qualified teachers and highly qualified 

2 special education teachers under subsection (b), the Sec3 retary shall consider 1 or more of the following: 

4 (1) The eligibility of a rural local educational 

5 agency for assistance under part B of title VI of the 

6 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

7 (20 U.S.C. 7341 et seq.). 

8 (2) The impact on a rural local educational 

9 agency of low-income students who are served by the 

10 rural local educational agency. 

11 (3) The impact on a rural local educational 

12 agency of limited English proficient students who 

13 are served by the rural local educational agency. 

14 (4) The impact on a rural local educational 

15 agency of migrant students who are served by the 

16 rural local educational agency. 

17 (5) The number or percentage of rural local 

18 educational agencies described in section 

19 9101(26)(C) of the Elementary and Secondary Edu20 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801(26)(C)). 

21 (6) The impact on a rural local educational 

22 agency of children with a disability who are served 

23 by the rural local educational agency. 

24 (7) The long-term plans of a State to improve 

25 the recruitment and retention of highly qualified 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
7 

•S 583 IS

1 teachers and highly qualified special education 

2 teachers in rural local educational agencies within 

3 the State. 

4 (d) APPLICATION.—A State that desires to receive a 

5 grant under this section shall submit an application to the 

6 Secretary at such time, in such manner, and accompanied 

7 by such information as the Secretary may require. The 

8 application shall contain a plan for the proposed distribu9 tion and use of the grant funds among rural local edu10 cational agencies within the State. 

11 (e) USE OF FUNDS.—Grant funds under this section 

12 shall be used to provide salary bonuses for highly qualified 

13 teachers or highly qualified special education teachers who 

14 teach, or commit to teach, for at least 3 academic years, 

15 in an elementary school or secondary school served by the 

16 same rural local educational agency. 

17 SEC. 5. STUDY AND REPORTS. 

18 (a) STUDY.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

20 out a study of each project that is funded under this 

21 Act. The study shall track and assess the implemen22 tation and effectiveness of each project. 

23 (2) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—From the 

24 amount appropriated under section 6 for fiscal year 

25 2008, the Secretary shall reserve not more than 1 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
8 

•S 583 IS

1 percent or $500,000, whichever is greater, to carry 

2 out the study described in paragraph (1). 

3 (b) REPORTS.— 

4 (1) ANNUAL REPORTS FROM STATES.—Each 

5 State receiving a grant under this Act shall submit 

6 an annual report to the Secretary regarding each 

7 project within the State that is funded under this 

8 Act. The report shall contain such information as 

9 the Secretary determines necessary to evaluate the 

10 project. 

11 (2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.— 

12 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

13 submit a report on the study described in sub14 section (a)(1) to the Committee on Health, 

15 Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate 

16 and to the Committee on Education and Labor 

17 of the House of Representatives not later than 

18 September 30, 2012. 

19 (B) CONTENTS.—The report shall in20 clude— 

21 (i) the number of rural local edu22 cational agencies assisted under this Act; 

23 (ii) the characteristics of such rural 

24 local educational agencies with respect to 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS
9 

•S 583 IS

1 the considerations of needs described in 

2 section 4(c); 

3 (iii) the number and demographic 

4 characteristics of teachers receiving bo5 nuses under this Act; 

6 (iv) the impact of the bonuses pro7 vided under this Act on the ability of rural 

8 local educational agencies assisted under 

9 this Act to recruit and retain highly quali10 fied teachers and highly qualified special 

11 education teachers; and 

12 (v) such other information and anal13 ysis as the Secretary determines necessary 

14 to evaluate the projects. 

15 SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATION. 

16 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

17 this Act $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2008 and such sums 

18 as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 2009 

19 through 2012. 

Æ 


hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMBILLS