II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 114 

To authorize resources for a grant program for local educational agencies 

to create innovation districts. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 4, 2007 

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

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

A BILL 

To authorize resources for a grant program for local 

educational agencies to create innovation districts. 

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 ‘‘Innovation Districts 

5 for School Improvement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Too many students emerge from secondary 

9 school unprepared for success in college or in the 

10 workforce. It is children of color and children of povVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:05 Jan 07, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114

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1 erty who suffer most from a failure to provide them 

2 effective teachers and adequate resources. 

3 (2) In urban elementary schools, African-Amer4 ican and Latino students are several times less likely 

5 than their white peers to be reading at even a basic 

6 level, and children living in poverty are several times 

7 less likely than their peers who are not poor to be 

8 proficient in reading or mathematics. 

9 (3) These deficits continue on into higher levels 

10 of education, so that 6,000,000 middle school and 

11 secondary school students are reading with skills sig12 nificantly below their grade level. Half of all teen13 agers are unable to understand basic mathematics. 

14 (4) In New York City, only 35 percent of Afri15 can-American students and 32 percent of Latino 

16 students graduate from secondary school. In Chi17 cago, of every 100 African-American males, on aver18 age, only 38 graduate from secondary school by age 

19 19, and less than 3 continue their education to earn 

20 a diploma from a 4-year college. 

21 (5) The dropout problem is not limited to cities. 

22 Poor rural communities are also harmed by inad23 equate resources and low teacher quality. As a re24 sult, in some States, only 60 percent of white stu25 dents graduate from secondary school; in others, 


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1 there is a difference of 40 percentage points in the 

2 graduation rates of whites and students of color. 

3 (6) Too many teachers and school leaders are 

4 not prepared adequately for their jobs, and too few 

5 States and local educational agencies have effective 

6 teacher induction or mentoring programs. Less7 qualified teachers are concentrated in schools at8 tended by African-American and Latino students, 

9 and in high-poverty areas, whether urban or rural. 

10 (7) The effectiveness of teachers has a direct 

11 relationship to student academic achievement. Stu12 dents who performed equally well in mathematics in 

13 second grade showed a significant performance gap 

14 3 years later, depending on whether they had been 

15 assigned to the most effective or least effective 

16 teachers. 

17 (8) Despite the numerous indicators that public 

18 schools are not adequately educating students, there 

19 are many pockets of innovation and success, where 

20 effective teachers work in schools where they support 

21 their students, with additional support from commu22 nity organizations, foundations, and nonprofits. In 

23 high-poverty schools using the reforms of the Teach24 er Advancement Program, the most recent data 

25 shows that more that 70 percent of these schools inVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:05 Jan 07, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114

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1 creased the percentage of students achieving at pro2 ficient levels or above on standardized tests. In rural 

3 schools using the Teacher Advancement Program re4 forms, nearly two-thirds of schools increased the per5 centage of students at or above the proficient level. 

6 (9) Lessons from the Teacher Advancement 

7 Program and other successes will form the basis for 

8 the expansion of successful efforts, used to positively 

9 transform education in school districts, and, in so 

10 doing, generate additional information on a group of 

11 effective practices that can be widely disseminated 

12 and applied. 

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act, the terms ‘‘Department’’, ‘‘elementary 

15 school’’, ‘‘institution of higher education’’, ‘‘local edu16 cational agency’’, ‘‘secondary school’’, and ‘‘Secretary’’ 

17 have the meanings given such terms in section 9101 of 

18 the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 

19 U.S.C. 7801). 

20 SEC. 4. GRANT PROGRAM. 

21 (a) AUTHORIZATION.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish 

23 a program to award grants, on a competitive basis, 

24 to 10 local educational agencies in urban areas and 

25 10 local educational agencies in non-urban areas 


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1 (which shall include a mix of rural and suburban 

2 areas), to enable such agencies to create innovation 

3 districts to implement systemic reforms in areas of 

4 teaching, assessment, school leadership, and admin5 istration, including the following: 

6 (A) Implementation of data systems to 

7 evaluate student progress, identify and share 

8 best practices, and conduct rigorous, data-driv9 en evaluations to determine the effect of re10 forms on student academic achievement. 

11 (B) Recruitment and retention of highly12 effective teachers, and allocation of such teach13 ers into the classrooms of the students who 

14 need them most, using incentives, including dif15 ferential pay to reward high-performing teach16 ers, teachers who choose to work in the most 

17 challenging schools within a local educational 

18 agency, and teachers with expertise in needed 

19 subject areas, such as mathematics, science, 

20 and special education, and systems and sched21 ules to support teacher collaboration and men22 toring, and career ladders for teachers to work 

23 as mentor or master teachers. 

24 (C) Support of teacher academies to re25 cruit talented candidates, develop effective 


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1 placement systems, and ensure that trainees re2 ceive both effective pre-service training and ef3 fective mentoring during induction as they 

4 enter the classroom. 

5 (D) Placement of an outstanding principal 

6 in every school, including rigorous recruitment, 

7 selection, pre-service and in-service training, 

8 and placement of school leaders, and efforts to 

9 hold principals accountable for student aca10 demic achievement while providing the prin11 cipals with the authority and autonomy needed 

12 especially regarding hiring and assigning teach13 ers and staff. 

14 (E) Support for new schools, including 

15 charter schools or contract schools, or for net16 works of public schools within the local edu17 cational agency, serving predominantly low-in18 come populations, which are sponsored by uni19 versities, education management organizations, 

20 or other nonprofit entities. Such new schools 

21 shall— 

22 (i) serve as demonstration sites for 

23 high-quality kindergarten through grade 

24 12 schooling; 


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1 (ii) be the locus for training and sup2 port of aspiring, new and veteran teachers 

3 and school leaders; and 

4 (iii) be designed to share best prac5 tices with other schools served by the local 

6 educational agency, and other local edu7 cational agencies, State and nationwide. 

8 (2) FEWER GRANTS.—If the amount appro9 priated for a fiscal year under subsection (h) is less 

10 than the amount authorized to be appropriated for 

11 such fiscal year, the Secretary may award fewer 

12 than 20 grants under this Act. 

13 (b) APPLICATION.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—A local educational agency 

15 that desires to receive a grant under this Act shall 

16 submit an application to the Secretary at such time, 

17 in such manner, and accompanied by such informa18 tion as the Secretary shall require. 

19 (2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 

20 under paragraph (1) shall include how the local edu21 cational agency will carry out the activities described 

22 in subparagraphs (A) through (E) of subsection 

23 (a)(1) and a description of activities the local edu24 cational agency will undertake to— 


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1 (A) recruit and induct new professional 

2 employees into the schools served by the local 

3 educational agency, including establishment of 

4 residency-based teacher or leadership acad5 emies; 

6 (B) provide mentoring and support for 

7 teachers who are not meeting standards for 

8 teacher effectiveness described in this Act; 

9 (C) use the financial and human resources 

10 of the agency to meet the needs of students in 

11 a performance-based model focused on student 

12 learning; 

13 (D) develop and use data systems and ac14 countability to establish instructional plans to 

15 benefit students in schools served by the agen16 cy, with regular evaluation of agency-supported 

17 programs; and 

18 (E) address how the agency will use funds 

19 available under title II of the Elementary and 

20 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

21 6601 et seq.) to support the goals of this Act, 

22 including having effective teachers equitably 

23 placed in every classroom in every school served 

24 by the agency, and effective principals in every 

25 school served by the agency. 


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1 (c) MANDATORY USES OF FUNDS.—A local edu2 cational agency that receives a grant under this Act shall 

3 use the grant funds to carry out each of the following: 

4 (1) ACCOUNTABILITY.—The local educational 

5 shall improve accountability as follows: 

6 (A) Work to establish longitudinal data 

7 systems that can monitor student progress as 

8 the students move from grade to grade, to de9 termine the value-added and effectiveness of 

10 specific teachers, schools, and programs within 

11 the local educational agency. The data system 

12 may be designed and established in cooperation 

13 with institutions of higher education, regional 

14 educational laboratories (established pursuant 

15 to section 174 of the Education Sciences Re16 form Act of 2002 (20 U.S.C. 9564)), offices in 

17 the Department, or other entities with expertise 

18 in data acquisition and interpretation. Such a 

19 data system shall have the following attributes: 

20 (i) A unique student identifier to 

21 track the progress of each individual stu22 dent served by the local educational agen23 cy. 


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1 (ii) The ability to track the progress 

2 and assessment results of each individual 

3 student from year to year. 

4 (iii) Enrollment, demographic, and 

5 program participation information for each 

6 student. 

7 (iv) A teacher identifier system to 

8 match each student to each teacher within 

9 the system. 

10 (v) Student-level graduation and drop11 out data. 

12 (vi) Inclusion of data on risk factors 

13 for individual students, including such in14 dicators as non-promotion mobility, inter15 action with the criminal justice system in16 volving the school, eligibility for a free or 

17 reduced price lunch under the Richard B. 

18 Russell National School Lunch Act (42 

19 U.S.C. 1751 et seq.), and such other fac20 tors as may be useful in targeting appro21 priate services, interventions, and supports 

22 for at-risk students. 

23 (B) Devise or employ assessment tests to 

24 monitor the progress of all students in grade 1 

25 through grade 12 in all the elementary schools 


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1 and secondary schools served by the local edu2 cational agency. 

3 (C) Rate the effectiveness of individual 

4 teachers, administrators, and schools within the 

5 local educational agency, using when feasible, 

6 as 1 measure, a value-added system, a statis7 tical method to measure the influence of a 

8 teacher or school on the rate of academic 

9 progress of students. The local educational 

10 agency shall evaluate 1 year’s worth of aca11 demic growth for each student using as the ref12 erence standard the national norm gain for 

13 each grade level, or the statewide or district14 wide value-added gain. 

15 (D) Assess the effectiveness of individual 

16 teachers, administrators, and schools, using 

17 when feasible, as 1 measure, the value-added 

18 system described in subparagraph (C), includ19 ing a measure of progress toward the goal of 

20 every student becoming proficient in reading, 

21 writing, and mathematics, and a measure of the 

22 progress of students through coursework needed 

23 to gain the knowledge and skills necessary for 

24 eventual entrance into a postsecondary degree 

25 or certification program. 


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1 (E) Award incentives for effective teaching 

2 or school leadership that may be linked to the 

3 results of the assessments under subparagraph 

4 (D), including a measure of progress toward the 

5 goal of every student becoming proficient in 

6 reading, writing, and mathematics, and a meas7 ure of the progress of students through 

8 coursework needed to gain the knowledge and 

9 skills necessary for eventual entrance into a 

10 postsecondary degree or certification program. 

11 (2) REMOVING OBSTACLES TO INNOVATION.— 

12 The local educational agency shall work with local 

13 teacher representatives or unions and other commu14 nity partners to achieve the following: 

15 (A) Equitable distribution of effective 

16 teachers to all students within the agency to en17 sure that poor and minority students are not 

18 disproportionately taught by teachers who are— 

19 (i) poorly trained in the subject being 

20 taught; 

21 (ii) less likely to have significant 

22 teaching experience; and 

23 (iii) less likely to excel in other meas24 ures of teacher effectiveness. 


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1 (B) Equitable distribution of expenditures 

2 to rectify policies and practices that guide 

3 teacher pay and have an adverse impact on dis4 advantaged students and schools. This may in5 clude the consideration of teacher salaries and 

6 policies of salary averaging in meeting agency7 wide goals based on high expectations for stu8 dent academic achievement. 

9 (C) Modification of staffing procedures and 

10 collective bargaining rules to provide greater 

11 flexibility for agency and school leaders to es12 tablish effective school-level staffing, to fairly 

13 balance the distribution of experienced teachers, 

14 and to recruit, place, and retain new teachers 

15 within schools served by the agency, including 

16 the completion of staffing decisions in a timely 

17 fashion to provide effective planning for student 

18 academic achievement. 

19 (3) TEACHERS.—The local educational agency 

20 shall evaluate and reward teacher effectiveness as 

21 follows: 

22 (A) TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS.—The local 

23 educational agency shall evaluate teacher effec24 tiveness by working with unions and other com25 munity stakeholders to establish a metric to deVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:05 Jan 07, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00013 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114

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1 termine the effectiveness of teachers, adminis2 trators, and schools served by the local edu3 cational agency. The metric may be used as the 

4 basis for systems of pay, incentives, and place5 ment within the local educational agency. Such 

6 a metric may include the following items: 

7 (i) STUDENT GROWTH.—Teachers 

8 may be rated for meeting annual objectives 

9 that are monitored by evaluating student 

10 improvement in value-added assessments. 

11 These evaluations may include value-added 

12 data averaged for a period of several years. 

13 (ii) MEASURING TEAMS OF TEACH14 ERS.—Measures may be used to track the 

15 progress and reward teams of teachers 

16 (such as a particular grade level or subject 

17 area) to encourage teamwork and sharing 

18 of best practices, and draw on similar ef19 fective approaches to financial rewards in 

20 the private sector. 

21 (iii) PROFESSIONAL EVALUATION.— 

22 (I) IN GENERAL.—Professional 

23 evaluation shall be based on formal 

24 and informal observations of teacher 

25 effectiveness. The ratings shall be preVerDate Aug 31 2005 03:05 Jan 07, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S114.IS S114

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1 pared by the supervisor of each teach2 er, based on observations of such do3 mains of teaching as the following: 

4 (aa) Planning and prepara5 tion, including demonstrating 

6 knowledge of content, pedagogy, 

7 and assessment, including the 

8 use of formative assessment to 

9 improve student learning. 

10 (bb) Classroom and school 

11 environment, which establishes a 

12 culture for learning, using when 

13 appropriate, schoolwide positive 

14 behavioral intervention and sup15 port. 

16 (cc) Instruction, which clear17 ly and accurately engages stu18 dents in learning. 

19 (dd) Professional respon20 sibilities, including appropriate 

21 interaction with families of stu22 dents, and with professional col23 leagues, which requires a dem24 onstrated ability to work with 

25 mentors and instructional leaders 


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1 to improve the teacher’s teaching 

2 and resultant student learning. 

3 (ee) Fair analysis of gains in 

4 student academic achievement 

5 over time. 

6 (II) IMPROVEMENT PLAN.—A 

7 teacher who receives an unsatisfactory 

8 professional evaluation under sub9 clause (I) shall comply with an im10 provement plan, developed by the 

11 teacher and the school in which the 

12 teacher teaches or the local edu13 cational agency and provided by such 

14 school or agency. 

15 (B) TEACHING INCENTIVES.—Based on 

16 measures of teacher effectiveness and the needs 

17 of the school and the local educational agency, 

18 the local educational agency shall work with 

19 teacher and community representatives to de20 velop a differentiated pay scale to provide in21 centives for effective teaching, teaching specific 

22 subject areas, and teaching in specific schools, 

23 including hard-to-staff schools or schools with 

24 high proportions of students who have been 


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1 achieving at levels below the local educational 

2 agency or State average. 

3 (4) TEACHER ACADEMIES.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The local educational 

5 agency shall establish a Teacher Academy, 

6 based upon models of successful residency-based 

7 teacher training and induction programs, as a 

8 mechanism to train teachers for success in such 

9 local educational agency. Each Teacher Acad10 emy shall be headed by a director who shall 

11 award grants to eligible individuals to attend 

12 such Teacher Academy. 

13 (B) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS.—An indi14 vidual may be eligible for a grant to attend a 

15 Teacher Academy if the individual is a recent 

16 college graduate or mid-career professional 

17 from outside the field of education, possessing 

18 strong content knowledge or a record of 

19 achievement, or other such individual at the dis20 cretion of the Secretary. 

21 (C) APPLICATION.—An individual who is 

22 eligible under subparagraph (B) and who de23 sires a grant under this paragraph shall submit 

24 an application to the Teacher Academy. 


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1 (D) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The director 

2 of the Teacher Academy shall establish criteria 

3 for selection of individuals to receive grants 

4 under this paragraph, based on such domains of 

5 teaching as the following characteristics shared 

6 by highly-effective teachers: 

7 (i) Comprehensive subject knowledge 

8 or record of accomplishment in an area 

9 outside of education. 

10 (ii) Strong verbal and written commu11 nication skills. 

12 (iii) Other attributes linked to effec13 tive teaching. 

14 (E) RECEIPT OF GRANT.—An individual 

15 who receives a grant under this paragraph shall 

16 enroll in the program of the Teacher Academy, 

17 which shall include the following: 

18 (i) A 1-year residency-based program 

19 of teaching in a school served by the local 

20 educational agency, under the supervision 

21 of a mentor teacher who will instruct the 

22 resident in planning and preparation, in23 struction of students, management of the 

24 classroom environment, and other profes25 sional responsibilities. Alternatively, the 


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1 first year of full-time teaching may be sub2 stituted for such residency-based program 

3 if all of the other requirements of this sec4 tion are satisfied and if the full-time teach5 ing is supported by a school, university, or 

6 nonprofit organization with a strong track 

7 record of helping new teachers get strong 

8 academic achievement results for students. 

9 (ii) A living stipend or salary for the 

10 period of residency. 

11 (iii) Concurrent instruction from a 

12 partner college, State-approved organiza13 tion, or school of education at an institu14 tion of higher education in pedagogy class15 es necessary for certification as a teacher. 

16 (iv) Ongoing mentoring and coaching 

17 during the first 2 years of induction into 

18 classroom teaching. 

19 (F) PLACEMENT IN HARD-TO-STAFF

20 SCHOOL.— 

21 (i) IN GENERAL.—An eligible indi22 vidual who receives a grant under this 

23 paragraph shall teach in a hard-to-staff 

24 school served by the local educational agen25 cy for a period of 3 years. 


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1 (ii) REPAYMENT.—If an eligible indi2 vidual does not complete the teaching re3 quirement described in clause (i), such in4 dividual shall repay to the local educational 

5 agency a pro rata portion of the grant 

6 amount for the amount of teaching time 

7 the individual did not complete. 

8 (5) TEACHER CAREERS.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The local educational 

10 agency shall establish a career ladder for teach11 ers in schools served by the local educational 

12 agency. 

13 (B) PROGRESSION.— 

14 (i) IN GENERAL.—In order to 

15 progress to higher rungs on the career lad16 der, a teacher or school leader shall prove 

17 effective at the teacher or school leader’s 

18 current level under a set of criteria estab19 lished by the local educational agency. 

20 (ii) INCREASE IN ROLE AND COM21 PENSATION.—In progressing to higher 

22 rungs on the career ladder, a teacher or 

23 school leader shall— 

24 (I) accept an increasing role in 

25 assessing and helping to improve the 


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1 teaching effectiveness of other teach2 ers in the school; and 

3 (II) be offered increased com4 pensation. 

5 (iii) COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREE6 MENT.—The base salary and career ladder 

7 increments of increased compensation may 

8 be established in a collective bargaining 

9 agreement between the local educational 

10 agency and representatives of teachers. 

11 (iv) STEPS.—A career ladder may in12 clude the following steps: 

13 (I) NOVICE TEACHERS.—Novice 

14 teachers are teachers in their first 

15 years in the profession. This shall be 

16 the career entry stage and include 

17 professional employees with initial 

18 teaching certificates. Novice teachers 

19 shall receive induction and mentoring 

20 as described in subclause (III) until 

21 the novice teachers progress to be22 come career teachers. Such induction 

23 and mentoring shall focus on improv24 ing the instructional and professional 

25 skills of the novice teachers. Novice 


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1 teachers shall receive periodic per2 formance reviews as a result of reg3 ular observations, using the criteria of 

4 teacher effectiveness set forth in para5 graph (3)(A). 

6 (II) CAREER TEACHERS.—Career 

7 teachers are teachers who have served 

8 several years as novice teachers and 

9 have received an advanced teaching 

10 certification or master’s degree, as de11 termined by State certification re12 quirements. Novice teachers may 

13 progress to this stage of the career 

14 ladder after receiving satisfactory re15 views of teacher effectiveness as out16 lined in paragraph (3)(A) and receiv17 ing an advanced teaching certification 

18 or master’s degree. 

19 (III) MENTOR TEACHERS.—Men20 tor teachers are teachers selected by 

21 local school administrators under clear 

22 criteria established at the local edu23 cational agency level, including supe24 rior assessment of their teaching ef25 fectiveness as described in paragraph 


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1 (3)(A). Mentor teachers shall have 

2 extra responsibilities as teacher lead3 ers and teacher coaches, including 

4 roles in induction and mentoring of 

5 novice teachers. 

6 (IV) MASTER TEACHERS.—Mas7 ter teachers are mentor teachers who 

8 have received superior reviews of their 

9 mentoring and supervisory role and 

10 assume additional responsibilities and 

11 teacher mentoring and leadership 

12 roles. 

13 (C) LEARNING COMMUNITY.—The role of 

14 mentor and master teachers shall include estab15 lishing, within each school, a learning commu16 nity in which all individuals are expected to 

17 continually improve their capacity to advance 

18 student learning, using a shared set of instruc19 tional principles or teaching strategies. The 

20 learning community shall require, in each 

21 school, continuing professional development, 

22 based on student academic achievement and be23 havioral outcomes, embedding in each school 

24 system for on-site coaching, mentoring, and 


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1 study groups in which teachers work together to 

2 improve the instructional program for students. 

3 (6) SCHOOL LEADERSHIP.—The local edu4 cational agency shall include a specific plan to im5 prove the school leadership in schools served by the 

6 agency, with the eventual goal of an effective prin7 cipal in every school. The plan should include provi8 sions to address the following topics: 

9 (A) RESPONSIBILITY AND ROLE OF PRIN10 CIPALS.—A plan to support the primary role of 

11 the principal as the instructional leader in the 

12 school responsible for ensuring teaching effec13 tiveness and student academic achievement 

14 schoolwide. Such plan shall include involving 

15 principals in planning systems and strategies 

16 for curricular, classroom, and schoolwide stu17 dent behavioral interventions and supports, and 

18 for establishing mechanisms for using student 

19 academic achievement data to drive instruc20 tional decisions. The plan shall also address 

21 ways to give principals significant responsibility 

22 for decisions regarding teacher hiring and 

23 placement decisions. 

24 (B) CREATING THE PIPELINE OF FUTURE

25 PRINCIPALS.—A plan for strategies and criteria 


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1 for rigorous recruitment, selection, and pre2 service training and induction for new prin3 cipals who can effectively take on the respon4 sibilities described in subparagraph (A). As 

5 with training teachers, the agency may establish 

6 a program for principal training, including a 

7 residency or internship with an exemplary prin8 cipal in the agency. The program shall have ex9 plicit expectations and performance-based indi10 cators of outcomes to ensure that each resident 

11 is competent in assuming instructional leader12 ship responsibilities. In the case of an agency in 

13 which several principals are training as a co14 hort, the agency shall promote the use of cohort 

15 participant groups to discuss best practices and 

16 maintain focus on outcome assessments. 

17 (C) SYSTEMATICALLY TRANSFORMING THE

18 PRINCIPALSHIP DISTRICTWIDE.—An assessment 

19 of how the agency currently handles each major 

20 policy and practice affecting the expectations 

21 set for the principalship and a plan for how the 

22 agency will align the principalship to the goals 

23 of this Act, including recruitment, selection, 

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1 ment, and job design of the principalship and 

2 other school leadership roles. 

3 (D) EVALUATION.—A plan for an external 

4 evaluation to examine the impact of principals 

5 on driving measurable gains in student aca6 demic achievement. 

7 (d) FLEXIBILITY FOR SMALL RURAL DISTRICTS.— 

8 The Secretary may give a local educational agency that 

9 is a small, rural local educational agency (as determined 

10 by the Secretary) that receives a grant under this Act 

11 flexibility in carrying out the activities required under sub12 section (c), including a waiver of the requirement to estab13 lish a Teacher Academy under subsection (c)(4). 

14 (e) PERMISSIBLE USE OF FUNDS.—The local edu15 cational agency may include a plan to support new schools, 

16 including charter schools or contract schools, or for net17 works of public schools within the local educational agen18 cy, serving predominantly low-income populations, which 

19 are sponsored by universities, education management or20 ganizations, or other nonprofit entities, using— 

21 (1) funds appropriated to carry out this Act, in 

22 coordination with the charter school programs under 

23 subpart 1 of part B of title V of the Elementary and 

24 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7221 

25 et seq.); or 


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1 (2) funds from State, local, or private sources. 

2 (f) REPORTS.—A local educational agency that re3 ceives a grant under this Act shall submit to the Secretary 

4 a report on the progress of such agency toward completion 

5 of the goals of the agency. Such report shall be available 

6 for public view on the website of the Department. Based 

7 on such reports, the Secretary may terminate grant fund8 ing to an agency for unsatisfactory performance. 

9 (g) PEER REVIEW PANEL.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be established in 

11 accordance with paragraph (2), a peer review panel 

12 to— 

13 (A) review applications submitted under 

14 subsection (b); 

15 (B) submit to the Secretary evaluations of 

16 the applications reviewed under subparagraph 

17 (A); and 

18 (C) evaluate reports described in sub19 section (f). 

20 (2) SELECTION OF MEMBERS.— 

21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara22 graph (B), members of the peer review panel 

23 shall be selected by the Secretary, in collabora24 tion with the Majority Leader of the Senate, 

25 the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Majority 


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1 Leader of the House of Representatives, and 

2 the Minority Leader of the House of Represent3 atives and shall include representatives from 

4 foundations, universities, and other entities with 

5 a record of involvement in local educational 

6 agency reform efforts. 

7 (B) NATIONAL GOVERNORS ASSOCIA8 TION.—Two members of the peer review panel 

9 shall be selected by the National Governors As10 sociation. 

11 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

13 appropriated to carry out this Act $1,500,000,000 

14 for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012. 

15 (2) REDIRECT FUNDS.—The Secretary shall re16 direct amounts appropriated to carry out programs 

17 under title II of the Elementary and Secondary Edu18 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et seq.) that the 

19 Secretary determines are ineffective, to carry out 

20 this Act. 

Æ 


bajohnson on PROD1PC77 with BILLS