II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2347

To provide grants to partnerships to establish and carry out information

technology training programs and to provide incentives for educators

to obtain information technology certification, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

APRIL 4, 2000

Mr. CONRAD (for himself, Mr. REID, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. KENNEDY, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. BAYH, and Mr. ROCKEFELLER) introduced the

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

A BILL

To provide grants to partnerships to establish and carry

out information technology training programs and to provide incentives for educators to obtain information technology certification, 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 ‘‘Information Tech5 nology Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

7 In this Act:
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1 (1) CERTIFIED COMMERCIAL INFORMATION

2 TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘cer3 tified commercial information technology training

4 provider’’ means a private sector provider of edu5 cational products and services utilized for training in

6 information technology that is certified with respect

7 to—

8 (A) the curriculum that is used for the

9 training; or

10 (B) the technical knowledge of the instruc11 tors of such provider,

12 by 1 or more software publishers or hardware manu13 facturers the products of which are a subject of the

14 training.

15 (2) DISLOCATED WORKER.—The term ‘‘dis16 located worker’’ has the meaning given the term in

17 section 101 of the Workforce Investment Act of

18 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2801).

19 (3) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CERTIFI20 CATION.—The term ‘‘information technology certifi21 cation’’ means certification in information tech22 nology, in accordance with such standards as—

23 (A)(i) the Computing Technology Industry

24 Association, the Information Technology Train25 ing Association, the International Society for
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1 Technology in Education, or another informa2 tion technology professional association may

3 issue, after consultation with chief education of4 ficers of States, State boards and entities that

5 certify or license teachers, and other entities

6 impacted by the standards; or

7 (ii) a State board or entity that certifies or

8 licenses teachers may issue, after consultation

9 with chief education officers of States, and

10 other entities impacted by the standards; and

11 (B) the Secretaries may approve.

12 (4) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PRO13 GRAM.—The term ‘‘information technology training

14 program’’ means a program for the training of—

15 (A) computer programmers, systems ana16 lysts, and computer scientists or engineers (as

17 such occupations are defined by the Bureau of

18 Labor Statistics); and

19 (B) persons for such other occupations as

20 are determined to be appropriate by the Secre21 taries, after consultation with a working group

22 broadly solicited by the Secretaries and open to

23 all interested information technology entities

24 and trade and professional associations.
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1 (5) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The

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

3 meaning given the term in section 102 of the Higher

4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1002).

5 (6) NATIVE AMERICAN.—The term ‘‘Native

6 American’’ means an Indian or a Native Hawaiian,

7 as defined in section 166(a) of the Workforce Invest8 ment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2911(a)).

9 (7) SECRETARIES.—The term ‘‘Secretaries’’

10 means the Secretary of Education and the Secretary

11 of Labor, acting jointly.

12 (8) VETERAN.—The term ‘‘veteran’’ has the

13 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Work14 force Investment Act of 1998 (29 U.S.C. 2801).

15 SEC. 3. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM

16 GRANTS.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretaries may make grants

18 to eligible partnerships to pay for the Federal share of

19 the cost of establishing and carrying out information tech20 nology training programs for minorities, women, older in21 dividuals, veterans, Native Americans, dislocated workers,

22 and former participants in information technology training

23 programs who have not received information technology

24 certification.
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1 (b) PARTNERSHIPS.—To be eligible to receive a grant

2 under subsection (a), a partnership shall consist of—

3 (1) an institution of higher education; and

4 (2) a private organization, such as a certified

5 commercial information technology training provider

6 or an information technology trade or professional

7 association.

8 (c) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant

9 under subsection (a), a partnership shall submit an appli10 cation to the Secretaries at such time, in such manner,

11 and containing such information as the Secretaries may

12 require.

13 (d) FEDERAL SHARE.—

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

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

16 (2) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non-Federal

17 share of the cost shall be provided in cash or in

18 kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equipment, or

19 services.

20 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

21 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

22 $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2001 and such sums as may

23 be necessary for each subsequent fiscal year.
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1 SEC. 4. BONUS GRANTS FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

2 CERTIFICATION.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education may

4 make grants to appropriate organizations, to assist the or5 ganizations in awarding bonuses to teachers who achieve

6 information technology certification.

7 (b) AMOUNT.—Subject to the availability of appro8 priations under subsection (d), the Secretary of Education

9 shall award a grant to an organization under subsection

10 (a) in an amount not greater than the product of $5,000

11 and the number of teachers described in subsection (c)(2).

12 (c) APPLICATION.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to receive a

14 grant under this section, a local educational agency

15 shall submit an application to the Secretary of Edu16 cation at such time, in such manner, and containing

17 such information as the Secretary may require.

18 (2) CONTENTS.—At a minimum, the applica19 tion shall contain information describing the number

20 of teachers that—

21 (A) have achieved information technology

22 certification, including such certification for in23 tegrating information technology into the class24 room and a curriculum;

25 (B) have not previously received awards

26 under this section; and
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1 (C) have entered into agreements with the

2 agency to continue to teach for the agency for

3 periods of not less than 3 years, after receiving

4 bonuses under this section.

5 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

6 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section

7 $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2001 through 2005.

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