I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1036

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to reduce

class size through the use of fully qualified teachers, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 14, 2001

Mr. WU (for himself, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. KILDEE, Mr.

OWENS, Mr. PAYNE, Mrs. MINK of Hawaii, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. SCOTT,

Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. RIVERS, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr.

TIERNEY, Mr. KIND, Mr. FORD, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. HOLT,

Mr. HINOJOSA, Ms. MCCOLLUM, and Mrs. DAVIS of California) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act

of 1965 to reduce class size through the use of fully

qualified teachers, 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. CLASS SIZE REDUCTION.

4 Title VI of the Elementary and Secondary Education

5 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et seq.) is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘this title’’ each place such term

2 appears and inserting ‘‘this title (excluding part

3 E)’’; and

4 (2) by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘PART E—CLASS SIZE REDUCTION

6 ‘‘SEC. 6501. GRANT PROGRAM.

7 ‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purposes of this section are—

8 ‘‘(1) to reduce class size through the use of

9 fully qualified teachers;

10 ‘‘(2) to assist States and local educational agen11 cies in recruiting, hiring, and training 100,000

12 teachers in order to reduce class sizes nationally, in

13 grades 1 through 3, to an average of 18 students

14 per regular classroom; and

15 ‘‘(3) to improve teaching in those grades so

16 that all students can learn to read independently

17 and well by the end of the 3d grade.

18 ‘‘(b) ALLOTMENT TO STATES.—

19 ‘‘(1) RESERVATION.—From the amount made

20 available to carry out this part for a fiscal year, the

21 Secretary shall reserve not more than 1 percent for

22 the Secretary of the Interior (on behalf of the Bu23 reau of Indian Affairs) and the outlying areas for

24 activities carried out in accordance with this section.

25 ‘‘(2) STATE ALLOTMENTS.—
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1 ‘‘(A) HOLD HARMLESS.—

2 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to sub3 paragraph (B) and clause (ii), from the

4 amount made available to carry out this

5 part for a fiscal year and not reserved

6 under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall

7 allot to each State an amount equal to the

8 amount that such State received for the

9 preceding fiscal year under this section or

10 section 306 of the Department of Edu11 cation Appropriations Act, 2001, as the

12 case may be.

13 ‘‘(ii) RATABLE REDUCTION.—If the

14 amount made available to carry out this

15 part for a fiscal year and not reserved

16 under paragraph (1) is insufficient to pay

17 the full amounts that all States are eligible

18 to receive under clause (i) for such fiscal

19 year, the Secretary shall ratably reduce

20 such amounts for such fiscal year.

21 ‘‘(B) ALLOTMENT OF ADDITIONAL

22 FUNDS.—

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause

24 (ii), for any fiscal year for which the

25 amount made available to carry out this
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1 part and not reserved under paragraph (1)

2 exceeds the amount made available to the

3 States for the preceding year under the au4 thorities described in subparagraph (A)(i),

5 the Secretary shall allot to each of those

6 States the percentage of the excess amount

7 that is the greater of—

8 ‘‘(I) the percentage the State re9 ceived for the preceding fiscal year of

10 the total amount made available to

11 the States under section 1122; or

12 ‘‘(II) the percentage so received

13 of the total amount made available to

14 the States under section 2202(b).

15 ‘‘(ii) RATABLE REDUCTIONS.—If the

16 excess amount for a fiscal year is insuffi17 cient to pay the full amounts that all

18 States are eligible to receive under clause

19 (i) for such fiscal year, the Secretary shall

20 ratably reduce such amounts for such fis21 cal year.

22 ‘‘(c) ALLOCATION TO LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN23 CIES.—

24 ‘‘(1) ALLOCATION.—Each State that receives

25 funds under this section shall allocate 100 percent
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1 of those funds to local educational agencies, of

2 which—

3 ‘‘(A) 80 percent shall be allocated to those

4 local educational agencies in proportion to the

5 number of children, age 5 through 17, from

6 families with incomes below the poverty line (as

7 defined by the Office of Management and

8 Budget and revised annually in accordance with

9 section 673(2) of the Community Services

10 Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) applica11 ble to a family of the size involved, who reside

12 in the school district served by that local edu13 cational agency for the most recent fiscal year

14 for which satisfactory data are available, com15 pared to the number of those children who re16 side in the school districts served by all the

17 local educational agencies in the State for that

18 fiscal year; and

19 ‘‘(B) 20 percent shall be allocated to those

20 local educational agencies in accordance with

21 the relative enrollments of children, age 5

22 through 17, in public and private nonprofit ele23 mentary schools and secondary schools within

24 the areas served by those agencies.
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1 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Notwithstanding paragraph

2 (1) and subsection (d)(2)(B), if the award to a local

3 educational agency under this section is less than

4 the starting salary for a new fully qualified teacher

5 for a school served by that agency, that agency may

6 use funds made available under this section to—

7 ‘‘(A) help pay the salary of a full- or part8 time fully qualified teacher hired to reduce class

9 size, which may be done in combination with

10 the expenditure of other Federal, State, or local

11 funds; or

12 ‘‘(B) pay for activities described in sub13 section (d)(2)(A)(iii) that may be related to

14 teaching in smaller classes.

15 ‘‘(d) USE OF FUNDS.—

16 ‘‘(1) MANDATORY USES.—Each local edu17 cational agency that receives funds under this sec18 tion shall use those funds to carry out effective ap19 proaches to reducing class size through use of fully

20 qualified teachers to improve educational achieve21 ment for both regular and special needs children,

22 with particular consideration given to reducing class

23 size in the early elementary grades for which some

24 research has shown class size reduction is most ef25 fective.
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1 ‘‘(2) PERMISSIBLE USES.—

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each such local edu3 cational agency may use funds made available

4 under this section for—

5 ‘‘(i) recruiting (including through the

6 use of signing bonuses, and other financial

7 incentives), hiring, and training fully quali8 fied regular and special education teachers

9 (which may include hiring special edu10 cation teachers to team-teach with regular

11 teachers in classrooms that contain both

12 children with disabilities and non-disabled

13 children) and teachers of special needs

14 children;

15 ‘‘(ii) testing new teachers for aca16 demic content knowledge, and to meet

17 State certification or licensing require18 ments that are consistent with title II of

19 the Higher Education Act of 1965; and

20 ‘‘(iii) providing professional develop21 ment (which may include such activities as

22 promoting retention and mentoring) for

23 teachers, including special education teach24 ers and teachers of special needs children,

25 in order to meet the goal of ensuring that
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1 all teachers have the general knowledge,

2 teaching skills, and subject matter knowl3 edge necessary to teach effectively in the

4 content areas in which the teachers teach,

5 consistent with title II of the Higher Edu6 cation Act of 1965.

7 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION ON TESTING AND PRO8 FESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT.—

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro10 vided in clause (ii), a local educational

11 agency may use not more than a total of

12 25 percent of the funds received by the

13 agency under this section for activities de14 scribed in clauses (ii) and (iii) of subpara15 graph (A).

16 ‘‘(ii) SPECIAL RULE.—A local edu17 cational agency may use more than 25 per18 cent of the funds the agency receives under

19 this section for activities described in sub20 paragraph (A)(iii) for the purpose of help21 ing teachers who are not yet fully qualified

22 in attaining full qualification if 10 percent

23 or more of the elementary school classes in

24 a school are taught by individuals who are

25 not fully qualified teachers or the State
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1 educational agency has waived State cer2 tification or licensing requirements for 10

3 percent or more of such teachers.

4 ‘‘(C) USE OF FUNDS BY AGENCIES THAT

5 HAVE REDUCED CLASS SIZE.—Notwithstanding

6 subparagraph (B), a local educational agency

7 that has already reduced class size in the early

8 elementary grades to 18 or fewer children (or

9 has already reduced class size to a State or

10 local class size reduction goal that was in effect

11 on November 28, 1999 if that goal is 20 or

12 fewer children) may use funds received under

13 this section—

14 ‘‘(i) to make further class size reduc15 tions in kindergarten through third grade;

16 ‘‘(ii) to reduce class size in other

17 grades; or

18 ‘‘(iii) to carry out activities to improve

19 teacher quality, including professional de20 velopment.

21 ‘‘(3) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Each

22 such agency shall use funds made available under

23 this section only to supplement, and not to supplant,

24 State and local funds that, in the absence of funds
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1 made available under this section, would otherwise

2 be expended for activities described in this section.

3 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION ON USE FOR SALARIES AND

4 BENEFITS.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in

6 subparagraph (B), no funds made available

7 under this section may be used to increase the

8 salaries of, or provide benefits (other than par9 ticipation in professional development and en10 richment programs) to, teachers who are not

11 hired under this section.

12 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Funds made available

13 under this section may be used to pay the sala14 ries of teachers hired under section 306 of the

15 Department of Education Appropriations Act,

16 2001.

17 ‘‘(e) REPORTS.—

18 ‘‘(1) STATE ACTIVITIES.—Each State receiving

19 funds under this section shall prepare and submit to

20 the Secretary a biennial report on activities carried

21 out in the State under this section that provides the

22 information described in section 6202(a)(2) with re23 spect to the activities.

24 ‘‘(2) PROGRESS CONCERNING CLASS SIZE AND

25 QUALIFIED TEACHERS.—Each State and local edu-
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1 cational agency receiving funds under this section

2 shall annually report to parents and the public, in

3 numeric form as compared to the previous year,

4 on—

5 ‘‘(A) the agency’s progress in reducing

6 class size, and increasing the percentage of

7 classes in core academic areas taught by fully

8 qualified teachers; and

9 ‘‘(B) the impact that hiring additional fully

10 qualified teachers and reducing class size, has

11 had, if any, on increasing student academic

12 achievement.

13 ‘‘(3) NOTICE.—Each local educational agency

14 that receives funds under this section shall provide

15 to each individual parent of a child who attends a

16 school in such local educational agency timely, writ17 ten notice if the child has been assigned or has been

18 taught for 2 or more consecutive weeks by a sub19 stitute teacher, as defined by such local educational

20 agency, or a teacher who is not fully qualified.

21 ‘‘(f) PRIVATE SCHOOLS.—If a local educational agen22 cy uses funds made available under this section for profes23 sional development activities, the agency shall ensure the

24 equitable participation of private nonprofit elementary

25 schools and secondary schools in such activities in accord-
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1 ance with section 6402. Section 6402 shall not apply to

2 other activities carried out under this section.

3 ‘‘(g) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—A local edu4 cational agency that receives funds under this section may

5 use not more than 3 percent of such funds for local admin6 istrative costs.

7 ‘‘(h) REQUEST FOR FUNDS.—Each local educational

8 agency that desires to receive funds under this section

9 shall include in the application required under section

10 6303 a description of the agency’s program to reduce class

11 size by hiring additional fully qualified teachers.

12 ‘‘(i) CERTIFICATION, LICENSING, AND COM13 PETENCY.—No funds made available under this section

14 may be used to pay the salary of any teacher unless such

15 teachers is fully qualified.

16 ‘‘(j) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section—

17 ‘‘(1) the term ‘certified’ includes certification

18 through State or local alternative routes; and

19 ‘‘(2) the term ‘fully qualified’—

20 ‘‘(A) when used with respect to an elemen21 tary or secondary school teacher, means that

22 the teacher has obtained certification or passed

23 the State licensing exam and holds a license;

24 and

25 ‘‘(B) when used with respect to—
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1 ‘‘(i) an elementary school teacher,

2 means that the teacher holds a bachelor’s

3 degree and demonstrates general knowl4 edge, teaching skill, and subject matter

5 knowledge required to teach at the elemen6 tary school level in the core academic sub7 jects; or

8 ‘‘(ii) a middle or secondary school

9 teacher, means that the teacher holds a

10 bachelor’s degree and demonstrates a high

11 level of competency in all subject areas in

12 which he or she teaches through—

13 ‘‘(I) a high level of performance

14 on a rigorous academic subject area

15 test; or

16 ‘‘(II) completion of an academic

17 major in each of the subject areas in

18 which he or she provides instruction.

19 ‘‘SEC. 6502. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

20 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out

21 this part $2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2002 and such

22 sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2003 through

23 2006.’’.

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