II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1649

To provide incentives for States to establish and administer periodic teacher

testing and merit pay programs for elementary school and secondary

school teachers.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 28, 1999

Mr. ABRAHAM (for himelf, Mr. MACK, and Mr. MCCAIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To provide incentives for States to establish and administer

periodic teacher testing and merit pay programs for elementary school and secondary school 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; FINDINGS; AND PURPOSES.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Measures to Encourage Results in Teaching Act of

6 1999’’.

7 (b) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ing:
2

S 1649 IS

1 (1) All students deserve to be taught by well2 educated, competent, and qualified teachers.

3 (2) More than ever before, education has and

4 will continue to become the ticket not only to eco5 nomic success but to basic survival. Students will

6 not succeed in meeting the demands of a knowledge7 based, 21st century society and economy if the stu8 dents do not encounter more challenging work in

9 school. For future generations to have the opportu10 nities to achieve success the future generations will

11 need to have an education and a teacher workforce

12 second to none.

13 (3) No other intervention can make the dif14 ference that a knowledgeable, skillful teacher can

15 make in the learning process. At the same time,

16 nothing can fully compensate for weak teaching that,

17 despite good intentions, can result from a teacher’s

18 lack of opportunity to acquire the knowledge and

19 skill needed to help students master the curriculum.

20 (4) The Federal Government established the

21 Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development

22 Program in 1985 to ensure that teachers and other

23 educational staff have access to sustained and high24 quality professional development. This ongoing de25 velopment must include the ability to demonstrate
3

S 1649 IS

1 and judge the performance of teachers and other in2 structional staff.

3 (5) States should evaluate their teachers on the

4 basis of demonstrated ability, including tests of sub5 ject matter knowledge, teaching knowledge, and

6 teaching skill. States should develop a test for their

7 teachers and other instructional staff with respect to

8 the subjects taught by the teachers and staff, and

9 should administer the test every 3 to 5 years.

10 (6) Evaluating and rewarding teachers with a

11 compensation system that supports teachers who be12 come increasingly expert in a subject area, are pro13 ficient in meeting the needs of students and schools,

14 and demonstrate high levels of performance meas15 ured against professional teaching standards, will

16 encourage teachers to continue to learn needed skills

17 and broaden teachers’ expertise, thereby enhancing

18 education for all students.

19 (c) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as fol20 lows:

21 (1) To provide incentives for States to establish

22 and administer periodic teacher testing and merit

23 pay programs for elementary school and secondary

24 school teachers.
4

S 1649 IS

1 (2) To encourage States to establish merit pay

2 programs that have a significant impact on teacher

3 salary scales.

4 (3) To encourage programs that recognize and

5 reward the best teachers,and encourage those teach6 ers that need to do better.

7 SEC. 2. STATE INCENTIVES FOR TEACHER TESTING AND

8 MERIT PAY.

9 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Title II of the Elementary and

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

11 seq.), is amended—

12 (1) by redesignating part E as part F;

13 (2) by redesignating sections 2401 and 2402 as

14 sections 2501 and 2502, respectively; and

15 (3) by inserting after part D the following:

16 ‘‘PART E—STATE INCENTIVES FOR TEACHER

17 TESTING AND MERIT PAY

18 ‘‘SEC. 2401. STATE INCENTIVES FOR TEACHER TESTING

19 AND MERIT PAY.

20 ‘‘(a) STATE AWARDS.—Notwithstanding any other

21 provision of this title, from funds described in subsection

22 (b) that are made available for a fiscal year, the Secretary

23 shall make an award to each State that—

24 ‘‘(1) administers a test to each elementary

25 school and secondary school teacher in the State,
5

S 1649 IS

1 with respect to the subjects taught by the teacher,

2 every 3 to 5 years; and

3 ‘‘(2) has an elementary school and secondary

4 school teacher compensation system that is based on

5 merit.

6 ‘‘(b) AVAILABLE FUNDING.—The amount of funds

7 referred to in subsection (a) that are available to carry

8 out this section for a fiscal year is 50 percent of the

9 amount of funds appropriated to carry out this title that

10 are in excess of the amount so appropriated for fiscal year

11 2000, except that no funds shall be available to carry out

12 this section for any fiscal year for which—

13 ‘‘(1) the amount appropriated to carry out this

14 title exceeds $600,000,000; or

15 ‘‘(2) each of the several States is eligible to re16 ceive an award under this section.

17 ‘‘(c) AWARD AMOUNT.—A State shall receive an

18 award under this section in an amount that bears the

19 same relation to the total amount available for awards

20 under this section for a fiscal year as the number of States

21 that are eligible to receive such an award for the fiscal

22 year bears to the total number of all States so eligible for

23 the fiscal year.
6

S 1649 IS

1 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds provided under this

2 section may be used by the States to carry out the activi3 ties described in section 2207.

4 ‘‘(e) DEFINITION OF STATE.—For the purpose of

5 this section, the term ‘State’ means each of the 50 States

6 and the District of Columbia.’’.

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

8 subsection (a) shall take effect on October 1, 2000.

9 SEC. 3. TEACHER TESTING AND MERIT PAY.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi11 sion of law, a State may use Federal education funds—

12 (1) to carry out a test of each elementary

13 school or secondary school teacher in the State with

14 respect to the subjects taught by the teacher; or

15 (2) to establish a merit pay program for the

16 teachers.

17 (b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘ele18 mentary school’’ and ‘‘secondary school’’ have the mean19 ings given the terms in section 14101 of the Elementary

20 and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801).

Æ