II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 441 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 by establishing a program to provide professional development activities for educators, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 4, 2013 

Mr. REID (for Mr. BEGICH) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 

Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act 

of 1965 by establishing a program to provide professional 

development activities for educators, 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 ‘‘Professional Develop5 ment for Educators Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) Through careful development, teachers can 

2 build their effectiveness over time, thus improving 

3 student achievement. 

4 (2) Ongoing professional development of teach5 ers in the subjects they teach is essential for im6 proved student learning. 

7 (3) United States teachers generally spend 

8 more time instructing students and less time in pro9 fessional learning opportunities with their peers than 

10 teachers in top-performing countries. 

11 (4) It takes time, resources, and support for 

12 teachers to become highly effective in their class13 rooms. Teachers participating in quality teacher pro14 fessional development must be given time to imple15 ment what they have learned. 

16 SEC. 3. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR EDUCATORS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Elementary and 

18 Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6601 et 

19 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

20 ‘‘PART E—PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR 

21 EDUCATORS 

22 ‘‘SEC. 2501. DEFINITIONS. 

23 ‘‘In this part: 

24 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE PARTNER.—The term ‘eligible 

25 partner’ means an entity that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) has demonstrated expertise in im2 proving student outcomes or teacher effective3 ness; and 

4 ‘‘(B) is— 

5 ‘‘(i) a State or local government agen6 cy; 

7 ‘‘(ii) a State or local economic devel8 opment agency; 

9 ‘‘(iii) a statewide industry organiza10 tion; 

11 ‘‘(iv) a nonprofit organization; 

12 ‘‘(v) a philanthropic organization; 

13 ‘‘(vi) an institution of higher edu14 cation; 

15 ‘‘(vii) an industry association; or 

16 ‘‘(viii) any other organization deter17 mined appropriate by the State or, in the 

18 case of grants awarded under section 

19 2502(d), the Secretary. 

20 ‘‘(2) QUALITY PROFESSIONAL DEVELOP21 MENT.—The term ‘quality professional development’ 

22 shall, for each State and local educational agency in 

23 a State, have the meaning given the term by the 

24 State in accordance with section 2503(b)(1). 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 2502. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED; ALLOTMENTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—From amounts ap3 propriated to carry out this part and not reserved under 

4 subsection (b), the Secretary shall make allotments in ac5 cordance with subsection (c) to States to enable the States 

6 to award subgrants to local educational agencies for the 

7 purpose of providing professional development activities to 

8 educators. 

9 ‘‘(b) RESERVATION.—From the amounts appro10 priated to carry out this part, the Secretary may reserve— 

11 ‘‘(1) not more than 1 percent for national ac12 tivities that support the purposes of this part, such 

13 as providing technical assistance and the costs of ad14 ministering this part; and 

15 ‘‘(2) not more than 1 percent for payments to 

16 outlying areas and the Bureau of Indian Education, 

17 to be distributed in amounts determined by the Sec18 retary based on relative need, to carry out the activi19 ties described in this part to benefit the schools 

20 served by the outlying areas and schools operated or 

21 funded by the Bureau. 

22 ‘‘(c) STATE ALLOTMENTS.— 

23 ‘‘(1) FORMULA DETERMINATION.—For each fis24 cal year, the Secretary shall allot, to each State with 

25 an approved application, an amount that bears the 

26 same relation to the amount appropriated to carry 


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1 out this part and not reserved under subsection (b) 

2 for such fiscal year, as the amount the State re3 ceived under subpart 2 of part A of title I for the 

4 preceding fiscal year bears to the amounts received 

5 by all States with approved applications under such 

6 subpart for the preceding fiscal year. 

7 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—Notwith8 standing paragraph (1), no State shall receive an al9 lotment under such paragraph for a fiscal year that 

10 is less than one-half of 1 percent of the amount ap11 propriated to carry out this part and not reserved 

12 under subsection (b) for such fiscal year. 

13 ‘‘(d) ALLOTMENTS TO CERTAIN LOCAL EDU14 CATIONAL AGENCIES.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a State does not submit 

16 an approvable application under this part for a fiscal 

17 year, the Secretary shall use the State’s allotment 

18 under subsection (c) for the fiscal year to award an 

19 allotment described in paragraph (2) to each local 

20 educational agency within the State that submits an 

21 approved application. 

22 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF ALLOTMENT.—The allotment 

23 to a local educational agency under this subsection 

24 for a fiscal year shall be the amount that bears the 

25 same relation to the total amount of the State’s alVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:37 Mar 04, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S441.IS S441

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1 lotment for such fiscal year as the amount the local 

2 educational agency received under subpart 2 of part 

3 A of title I for the preceding fiscal year bears to the 

4 amount that all local educational agencies with ap5 proved applications in the State received under such 

6 subpart for such year. 

7 ‘‘(3) NOTIFICATION AND APPLICATION PROC8 ESS.—The Secretary shall notify local educational 

9 agencies in a State described in paragraph (1) of the 

10 opportunity to apply for funds under this part and 

11 of the application requirements. A local educational 

12 agency’s application for an allotment under this sub13 section shall include the information described in 

14 paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 2504(b) and shall 

15 be submitted at such time, in such manner, and con16 taining such other information as required by the 

17 Secretary. 

18 ‘‘(4) RULES AND REQUIREMENTS.—The re19 quirements of subsections (a), (c), and (d) of section 

20 2504 shall apply to a local educational agency re21 ceiving an allotment under this subsection in the 

22 same manner as such requirements apply to a local 

23 educational agency receiving an allocation under 

24 such section. A local educational agency receiving an 

25 allotment under this subsection shall submit an anVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:37 Mar 04, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S441.IS S441

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1 nual report to the Secretary regarding the progress 

2 made under the grant and the activities carried out 

3 with grant funds. 

4 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION.—A State desiring an allotment 

5 under this section shall submit to the Secretary an appli6 cation at such time, in such manner, and containing such 

7 information as the Secretary may require. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 2503. STATE USE OF FUNDS. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State that receives an allot10 ment under this part shall— 

11 ‘‘(1) carry out the State activities described in 

12 subsection (b), except that the State may not use 

13 not more than 20 percent of the State’s allotment 

14 for this purpose; and 

15 ‘‘(2) use not less than 80 percent of the State’s 

16 allotment to award subgrants, on a competitive basis 

17 or through allocations based on a formula that the 

18 State determines will best meet the needs of this 

19 part, to local educational agencies under section 

20 2504 to enable the local educational agencies to 

21 carry out the activities described in such section. 

22 ‘‘(b) STATE ACTIVITIES.—A State that receives an 

23 allotment under this part shall use funds described in sub24 section (a)(1) to carry out all of the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Develop, in collaboration with the local 

2 educational agencies in the State and with the input 

3 of teachers and principals employed by the local edu4 cational agencies, a definition of, and the criteria 

5 for, quality professional development activities, 

6 which shall include a requirement that such activi7 ties are regularly evaluated for their impact on in8 creasing teacher effectiveness and improving student 

9 achievement. 

10 ‘‘(2) Design and implement methods for evalu11 ating quality professional development activities oc12 curring in the State. 

13 ‘‘(3) Make recommendations, to the State edu14 cational agency and to local educational agencies, to 

15 improve quality professional development activities 

16 in the State. 

17 ‘‘(4) Design and maintain a registry that is an 

18 electronic and searchable method of storing informa19 tion regarding quality professional development ac20 tivities. The registry shall be searchable by relevant 

21 criteria, including— 

22 ‘‘(A) subject matter; 

23 ‘‘(B) grade level; 

24 ‘‘(C) location; 


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1 ‘‘(D) credits, credentials, or certificates 

2 that may be earned; and 

3 ‘‘(E) entity providing the activity. 

4 ‘‘(5) Hire regional professional development co5 ordinators to work as liaisons between the State and 

6 local educational agencies to assess existing profes7 sional development activities, assist in creating new 

8 quality professional development activities, provide 

9 to the State the quality professional development ac10 tivities to be included in the registry described in 

11 paragraph (4), and carry out other activities to fur12 ther the purposes of this part. 

13 ‘‘(6) Evaluate the professional development ac14 tivities available in the State. 

15 ‘‘(7) Prepare, and submit to the Secretary, an 

16 annual report regarding the progress made under 

17 the grant under this part, including the activities 

18 carried out by the State educational agency and the 

19 local educational agencies in the State with grant 

20 funds. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 2504. LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY USE OF FUNDS. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A local educational agency that 

23 receives a subgrant under this part shall use subgrant 

24 funds to carry out the activities described in subsection 

25 (c). 


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1 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION.—A local educational agency de2 siring a subgrant under this part shall submit an applica3 tion to the State at such time, in such manner, and con4 taining such information as the State may reasonably re5 quire. Each application shall include— 

6 ‘‘(1) a description of any eligible partners with 

7 which the local educational agency will work to carry 

8 out the subgrant activities; and 

9 ‘‘(2) a description of how the local educational 

10 agency will meet the requirement of subsection 

11 (c)(1)(B). 

12 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) MANDATORY USES OF FUNDS.—Each local 

14 educational agency receiving a subgrant under this 

15 part shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) use grant funds to provide informa17 tion to the State regarding available quality 

18 professional development activities for inclusion 

19 in the statewide registry described in section 

20 2503(b)(4); and 

21 ‘‘(B) dedicate not less than 25 percent of 

22 the subgrant funds for quality professional de23 velopment activities that involve science, tech24 nology, engineering, mathematics, and career 

25 and technical education. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PERMISSIVE USES OF FUNDS.—A local 

2 educational agency receiving a subgrant under this 

3 part may, in addition to the activities described in 

4 paragraph (1), use grant funds to— 

5 ‘‘(A) carry out quality professional develop6 ment activities, as defined by the State under 

7 section 2503(b)(1); 

8 ‘‘(B) provide updated information to teach9 ers on changes in curricula, assessments, and 

10 educational research; 

11 ‘‘(C) provide mentors to teachers or prin12 cipals; 

13 ‘‘(D) provide information on leadership op14 portunities; 

15 ‘‘(E) create local educational agency-wide 

16 and school-based quality professional develop17 ment plans that emphasize multiple grade lev18 els; 

19 ‘‘(F) develop new quality professional de20 velopment activities to meet local and regional 

21 needs; 

22 ‘‘(G) establish systematic quality profes23 sional development training opportunities for 

24 teachers and principals; 


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1 ‘‘(H) evaluate professional development ac2 tivities; 

3 ‘‘(I) evaluate the professional development 

4 activities currently being offered in the region; 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(J) carry out other activities approved by 

7 the State. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 2505. SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT. 

9 ‘‘Funds made available under this part shall be used 

10 to supplement, and not supplant, other Federal, State, 

11 and local funds available to carry out the activities sup12 ported under this part. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 2506. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

15 this part such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 

16 2014 and each of the 5 succeeding fiscal years.’’. 

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—The table of con18 tents of section 2 of the Elementary and Secondary Edu19 cation Act of 1965 is amended by inserting after the item 

20 relating to section 2441 the following: 

‘‘PART E—PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR EDUCATORS

‘‘Sec. 2501. Definitions. 

‘‘Sec. 2502. Program authorized. 

‘‘Sec. 2503. State use of funds. 

‘‘Sec. 2504. Local educational agency use of funds. 

‘‘Sec. 2505. Supplement not supplant. 

‘‘Sec. 2506. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

Æ 


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