I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2102

To authorize recruitment and retention incentive programs, student loan

forgiveness, and professional development programs for teachers in rural

areas.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 7, 2001

Mrs. CLAYTON (for herself, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. POMEROY, Mr. NEY,

Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mrs. ROUKEMA, Mr. PHELPS, Mr. SHOWS, Mrs. THURMAN, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. BURR of North Carolina, Mr. JOHN, and Mr.

LAHOOD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce

A BILL

To authorize recruitment and retention incentive programs,

student loan forgiveness, and professional development

programs for teachers in rural areas.

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 Teachers Re5 cruitment Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. TEACHER RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION GRANTS.

7 (a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—The Secretary is au8 thorized to provide grants to rural eligible local edu-
2

•HR 2102 IH

1 cational agencies to enable the agencies to recruit and re2 tain qualified teachers for elementary and secondary

3 schools.

4 (b) RURAL ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGEN5 CIES.—To be eligible to receive a grant under this section,

6 a rural eligible local educational agency shall—

7 (1) submit an application to the Secretary at

8 such time, in such manner, and containing such in9 formation as the Secretary may reasonably require;

10 and

11 (2) demonstrate a need to recruit and retain

12 additional qualified elementary and secondary school

13 teachers.

14 (c) GRANT AMOUNT.—Each grant award made under

15 this section shall be of sufficient size to enable a grantee

16 to develop incentive programs to recruit and retain quali17 fied teachers.

18 (d) USES OF FUNDS.—A rural eligible local edu19 cational agency that receives a grant award under this sec20 tion may use such funds received to develop incentive pro21 grams to recruit and retain qualified teachers. Such incen22 tive programs may include—

23 (1) salary increases;

24 (2) reimbursement for teacher certification ex25 penses;
3

•HR 2102 IH

1 (3) assistance to pay college tuition expenses;

2 (4) assistance to pay graduate school tuition

3 and training expenses; and

4 (5) reimbursement for relocation expenses.

5 (e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

6 (1) the term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the

7 same meaning given such term in section 14101(18)

8 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of

9 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8801(18));

10 (2) the term ‘‘metropolitan statistical area’’ has

11 the same meaning given such term by the Bureau of

12 the Census;

13 (3) the term ‘‘rural eligible educational agency’’

14 means a local educational agency—

15 (A) that is not located in a metropolitan

16 statistical area; and

17 (B) in which 20 percent or more of the

18 children, ages 5 through 17, served by such

19 agency are from families below the poverty

20 level, as determined by the Secretary; and

21 (4) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

22 of Education.

23 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There

24 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this

25 section—
4

•HR 2102 IH

1 (1) $250,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2002

2 and 2003;

3 (2) $400,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004

4 and 2005; and

5 (3) $500,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.

6 SEC. 3. LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR RURAL TEACHERS.

7 Section 428J(b)(1) of the Higher Education Act of

8 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1078–10(b)(1)) is amended—

9 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A),

10 by striking ‘‘teacher for 5 consecutive complete

11 school years—’’ and inserting ‘‘teacher—’’; and

12 (2) by amending subparagraph (A) to read as

13 follows:

14 ‘‘(A) in a school—

15 ‘‘(i) for 5 consecutive complete school

16 years, if the school qualifies under section

17 465(a)(2)(A) for loan cancellation for Per18 kins loan recipients who teach in such

19 schools; or

20 ‘‘(ii) for 3 consecutive complete school

21 years, if the school is located in a county

22 with a population density of less than 200

23 persons per square mile;’’.
5

•HR 2102 IH

1 SEC. 4. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN MATHEMATICS

2 AND SCIENCE FOR RURAL TEACHERS.

3 Part A of title II of the Elementary and Secondary

4 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6621 et seq.) is amend5 ed by adding at the end the following:

6 ‘‘SEC. 2104. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN MATHE7 MATICS AND SCIENCE FOR RURAL TEACH8 ERS.

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may award grants

10 on a competitive basis to rural eligible local educational

11 agencies to develop and implement high-quality profes12 sional development programs in mathematics and science

13 for teachers.

14 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant

15 under this section, a rural eligible local educational agency

16 shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time,

17 in such manner, and containing such information as the

18 Secretary may reasonably require.

19 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

20 ‘‘(1) METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA.—The

21 term ‘metropolitan statistical area’ has the meaning

22 given such term by the Bureau of the Census.

23 ‘‘(2) RURAL ELIGIBLE LOCAL EDUCATIONAL

24 AGENCY.—The term ‘rural eligible local educational

25 agency’ means a local educational agency—
6

•HR 2102 IH

1 ‘‘(A) that is not located in a metropolitan

2 statistical area; and

3 ‘‘(B) in which 20 percent or more of the

4 children, ages 5 through 17, served by such

5 agency are from families below the poverty

6 level, as determined by the Secretary.’’.

Æ