II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1818

To amend title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

to provide grants for master teacher programs.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 28, 1999

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

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

A BILL

To amend title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to provide grants for master teacher

programs.

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 ‘‘21st Century Master

5 Teacher Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. MASTER TEACHER PROGRAMS.

7 Title II of the Elementary and Secondary Education

8 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et seq.) is amended—

9 (1) by redesignating part E as part G; and
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1 (2) by inserting after part D the following new

2 part:

3 ‘‘PART E—MASTER TEACHER PROGRAM

4 ‘‘SEC. 2351. FINDINGS.

5 ‘‘Congress makes the following findings:

6 ‘‘(1) The National Commission on Teaching

7 and America’s Future reports that more than 12

8 percent of all newly hired teachers enter the work9 force with no training at all, and another 15 percent

10 enter the workforce without having fully met State

11 standards.

12 ‘‘(2) Annually, more than 50,000 people who

13 lack the training required for their jobs have entered

14 teaching with emergency or provisional licenses.

15 ‘‘(3) Only 500 of the Nation’s 1,200 education

16 schools meet common professional standards.

17 ‘‘(4) Fewer than 75 percent of all teachers have

18 studied child development, and learning and teach19 ing methods, have degrees in their subject areas,

20 and have passed State licensing requirements.

‘‘(5) Nearly 1 21 ⁄4 of all secondary school teachers,

22 and more than 30 percent of secondary school math23 ematics teachers, do not have even a college minor

24 in their main subject area.
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1 ‘‘(6) 64 percent of urban school districts allow

2 teachers who are not certified or licensed to teach

3 under an emergency certification or license, and 40

4 percent of those districts allow the hiring of long5 term substitute teachers.

6 ‘‘SEC. 2352. PURPOSES.

7 ‘‘The purposes of this part are—

8 ‘‘(1) to give local educational agencies the re9 sources to establish master teacher programs;

10 ‘‘(2) to increase the level of student perform11 ance at elementary schools and secondary schools by

12 improving the quality of education provided by the

13 teachers at such schools;

14 ‘‘(3) to give local educational agencies the re15 sources to fund efforts by teachers at elementary

16 schools and secondary schools to become board cer17 tified; and

18 ‘‘(4) to give local educational agencies the re19 sources to enable such agencies to provide salary in20 centives to teachers to become board certified.

21 ‘‘SEC. 2353. DEFINITIONS.

22 ‘‘In this part:

23 ‘‘(1) BOARD CERTIFIED.—The term ‘board cer24 tified’ means successful completion of all require-
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1 ments to be certified by the National Board for Pro2 fessional Teaching Standards.

3 ‘‘(2) MASTER TEACHER.—The term ‘master

4 teacher’ means a teacher who is certified by the Na5 tional Board for Professional Teaching Standards

6 and has been teaching for not less than 3 years.

7 ‘‘(3) NOVICE TEACHER.—The term ‘novice

8 teacher’ means a teacher who has been teaching for

9 not more than 3 years at a public elementary school

10 or secondary school.

11 ‘‘SEC. 2354. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

12 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized

14 to award grants on a competitive basis to local edu15 cational agencies to establish master teacher pro16 grams as described in subsection (d).

17 ‘‘(2) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants under

18 paragraph (1), the Secretary shall give priority to

19 local educational agencies that—

20 ‘‘(A) provide funding assistance to teachers

21 to become board certified, including the provi22 sion of the board certification fee to become

23 board certified; and

24 ‘‘(B) provide salary incentives to teachers

25 who become board certified.
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1 ‘‘(3) GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION.—To the

2 maximum extent practicable, the Secretary shall

3 award grants under paragraph (1) so that such

4 grants are distributed among the school districts

5 with the highest concentration of teachers who are

6 not certified or licensed or are provisionally certified

7 or licensed.

8 ‘‘(b) DURATION.—A grant under subsection (a) shall

9 be awarded for a period of 5 years.

10 ‘‘(c) AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant awarded

11 under subsection (a), shall be determined based on—

12 ‘‘(1) the total amount appropriated for a fiscal

13 year under section 2360; and

14 ‘‘(2) the extent of the concentration of teachers

15 who are not certified or licensed or are provisionally

16 certified or licensed in the school district involved.

17 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZED ACTIVITIES.—The master teacher

18 programs described in subsection (a) shall—

19 ‘‘(1) provide funding assistance to teachers to

20 become board certified, including the provision of the

21 board certification fee; and

22 ‘‘(2) provide salary incentives to teachers who

23 become board certified.
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1 ‘‘SEC. 2355. APPLICATIONS.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A local educational agency desir3 ing a grant under section 2354 shall submit an application

4 to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and accom5 panied by such information as the Secretary may reason6 ably require.

7 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—Each application submitted pursu8 ant to subsection (a) shall include—

9 ‘‘(1) a statement describing the program activi10 ties for which amounts received under the grant will

11 be used;

12 ‘‘(2) a statement describing the goals and objec13 tives for the program activities described in para14 graph (1), including a goal of increasing the percent15 age of teachers who become board certified and en16 hancing overall student achievement; and

17 ‘‘(3) a statement describing the manner in

18 which the goals and objectives described in para19 graph (2) will be measured.

20 ‘‘(c) APPROVAL OF APPLICATION.—The Secretary

21 shall make a determination regarding an application sub22 mitted under subsection (a) based on a recommendation

23 of a peer review panel described in subsection (d), and

24 any other criteria that the Secretary determines to be ap25 propriate.

26 ‘‘(d) PEER REVIEW PANEL.—
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1 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall es2 tablish a peer review panel to review and make rec3 ommendations as to whether applications submitted

4 pursuant to subsection (a) should be approved.

5 ‘‘(2) RECOMMENDATIONS.—In making a rec6 ommendation described in paragraph (1), the panel

7 shall give consideration to the same factors that the

8 Secretary is required to consider under paragraphs

9 (2) and (3) of section 2354(a).

10 ‘‘SEC. 2356. PAYMENTS.

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Grant payments shall be made

12 under this part on an annual basis.

13 ‘‘(b) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Each local edu14 cational agency that receives a grant under section 2354

15 shall use not more than 2 percent of the amount awarded

16 under the grant for administrative costs.

17 ‘‘(c) DENIAL OF GRANT.—If the Secretary deter18 mines that a local educational agency has failed to make

19 substantial progress in attaining the performance objec20 tives and goals described in section 2355(b)(2), such an

21 agency shall not be eligible for a grant payment under this

22 part in the next succeeding year.

23 ‘‘SEC. 2357. REPORTS.

24 ‘‘(a) REPORT BY THE SECRETARY.—Not later than

25 6 months after receipt of reports described in subsection
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1 (b), the Secretary shall prepare and submit to the Com2 mittee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the

3 Senate and the Committee on Education and the Work4 force of the House of Representatives a report of program

5 activities funded under this part.

6 ‘‘(b) REPORT BY APPLICANT.—Not later than March

7 31, 2004, each local educational agency receiving a grant

8 under this part shall submit a report to the Secretary de9 scribing whether the program established under section

10 2354 was effective in increasing student achievement for

11 all students, and in increasing the percentage of teachers

12 who have become board certified.

13 ‘‘SEC. 2358. MATCHING REQUIREMENT.

14 ‘‘The Secretary may not award a grant to a local edu15 cational agency under section 2354 unless the local edu16 cational agency agrees that, with respect to costs to be

17 incurred by the agency in carrying out activities for which

18 the grant was awarded, the agency shall provide (directly

19 or through donations from public or private entities) in

20 non-Federal contributions an amount equal to 25 percent

21 of the amount of the grant awarded to the agency.

22 ‘‘SEC. 2359. REPAYMENT OF FUNDS.

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any program

24 under this part in which assistance is provided to a teacher

25 to pay the National Board for Professional Teaching
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1 Standard board certification fee to become board certified,

2 assistance may only be provided if the teacher makes

3 agreements as follows:

4 ‘‘(1) The teacher will enter and complete the

5 National Board for Professional Teaching Standards

6 board certification program to become board cer7 tified.

8 ‘‘(2) Upon becoming board certified, the teacher

9 will teach in the public school system for a period

10 of not less than 5 years.

11 ‘‘(b) BREACH OF AGREEMENTS.—A teacher receiving

12 assistance described in subsection (a) is liable to the local

13 educational agency that provides such assistance for the

14 amount of the certification fee described in subsection (a)

15 if such teacher—

16 ‘‘(1) voluntarily withdraws or terminates the

17 certification program before taking the examination

18 for board certification;

19 ‘‘(2) is dismissed from the certification program

20 before becoming board certified; or

21 ‘‘(3) fails to comply with the agreement under

22 subsection (a).

23 ‘‘(c) WAIVER OR SUSPENSION OF LIABILITY.—In the

24 case of a teacher making an agreement under subsection

25 (a), the Secretary shall provide for the waiver or suspen-
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1 sion of liability under subsection (b) if compliance by the

2 teacher with the agreements involved is impossible, would

3 involve extreme hardship to the individual, or if enforce4 ment of the agreement with respect to the teacher would

5 be unconscionable.

6 ‘‘(d) DATE CERTAIN FOR RECOVERY.—Subject to

7 subsection (c), any amount that a local educational agency

8 is entitled to recover under subsection (b) shall be paid

9 to such an agency not later than the expiration of the 3-

10 year period beginning on the date the local educational

11 agency becomes so entitled.

12 ‘‘SEC. 2360. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

13 ‘‘There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out

14 this part, $50,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2000

15 through 2004.

16 ‘‘PART F—COMPETENCY EXAMINATION

17 PROGRAM

18 ‘‘SEC. 2361. COMPETENCY EXAMINATION GRANTS.

19 ‘‘(a) EXAMINATION.—The Secretary shall enter into

20 an agreement with the Center for Science, Mathematics,

21 and Engineering of the National Research Council of the

22 National Academy of Sciences, under which the Center

23 shall develop an advanced competency examination for ele24 mentary school and secondary school teachers of mathe25 matics and science.
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1 ‘‘(b) GRANTS.—The Secretary may make grants to

2 local educational agencies to assist the agencies in

3 supplementing the salaries of teachers that pass the exam4 ination described in subsection (a). A local educational

5 agency that receives such a grant for a year shall provide

6 an additional $2500 in salary for that year to teachers

7 that have passed the examination, and that teach in

8 schools served by the agency.

9 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

10 is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this part

11 $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2000 through 2004.’’.

12 SEC. 3. INFORMATION CAMPAIGN.

13 Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20

14 U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section

15 204 the following:

16 ‘‘SEC. 204A. INFORMATION CAMPAIGN.

17 ‘‘(a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Secretary may

18 enter into contracts with appropriate entities to conduct

19 information campaigns to broaden awareness of, and en20 courage mid-career professionals and other qualified indi21 viduals to consider, professional opportunities relating to

22 elementary or secondary education.

23 ‘‘(b) ANNOUNCEMENTS.—Announcements distributed

24 as part of such an information campaign shall publicize

25 the availability of Federal assistance under this Act to ob-
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1 tain the necessary education, and to obtain certification

2 or licensing, for the professional opportunities.

3 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS.—The provisions of sections

4 205 and 206 shall not apply to assistance provided under,

5 and activities carried out under, this section.

6 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

7 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

8 such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years

9 2000 through 2004.’’.

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