I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1805
To establish a national teaching fellowship program to encourage individuals 
to enter and remain in the field of teaching at public schools. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 11, 2003
Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. ETHERIDGE, Mr. MOORE, Mr. 
MCINTYRE, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, Mr. BERRY, Mr. HOLT, Mr. 
STRICKLAND, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. FROST, Mr. MILLER of North Caro-
lina, Mr. BALLANCE, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. BALLENGER, and Mr. WATT) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To establish a national teaching fellowship program to en-
courage individuals to enter and remain in the field 
of teaching at public schools.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Teaching Fellows Act 
of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The United States faces an increasing need 
for high-quality educators. 
(2) Up to 1,000,000 of the country’s 3,000,000 
teachers will retire in the next 5 years. American 
schools will have to hire 2,200,000 teachers by 2010. 
(3) The Congress desires to inspire promising 
high school seniors and accomplished persons cur-
rently involved in the field of education to become 
certified teachers. 
(4) The opportunity created by a fellowship 
program would allow persons in the field of edu-
cation the financial opportunity to obtain a quality 
education which they would use to teach America’s 
youth. 
(5) The Congress desires to motivate those who 
go into the field of teaching to become career edu-
cators. 
(6) Many teacher assistants have received their 
training at community colleges and have the poten-
tial and desire to obtain degrees in education and 
certification as teachers. 
(7) Rural and inner-city communities could 
greatly benefit from encouraging those in the com-
munity who already have an interest in teaching to
pursue a degree in education and become career 
educators. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM. 
Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1021 et seq.) is amended—
(1) by striking out the head of such title and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘TITLE II—TEACHER QUALITY 
‘‘Part A—Teacher Quality Enhance-
ment Grants for States and 
Partnerships’’; 
(2) by striking out ‘‘this title’’ each place it ap-
pears in section 201 through 209 and inserting ‘‘this 
part’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new part: 
‘‘Part B—Federal Teaching and 
Partnership Fellows 
‘‘SEC. 211. STATE TEACHING FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en-
courage promising high school seniors and college under-
graduates to enter the field of teaching and become career 
educators. 
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF TEACHING FELLOWS PRO-
GRAM.—
‘‘(1) USE
OF
FUNDS
FOR
SCHOLARSHIPS.—
From the funds appropriated under subsection (g), 
the Secretary shall make grants available to States 
for the purpose of establishing State Teaching Fel-
lows Programs to provide scholarships for Teaching 
Fellows. Such scholarships shall be used to pay for 
higher education tuition, fees, and other costs of at-
tendance. 
‘‘(2) SELECTION OF FELLOWS.—Teaching Fel-
lows shall be selected from individuals who—
‘‘(A) at the time of application, are high 
school seniors or in their second year of a pro-
gram of undergraduate education; 
‘‘(B) are United States citizens or legal 
aliens; 
‘‘(C) are residents of the State sponsoring 
the Fellows Program to which they are apply-
ing; and 
‘‘(D) meet the criteria established under 
subsection (d)(1)(B). 
‘‘(c) COMPETITION FOR FEDERAL FUNDS.—
‘‘(1) STATE APPLICATION TO PROGRAM.—The 
governor of each State desiring to participate in the 
Partnership Program shall designate a single State 
agency to submit an application to the Secretary and
to administer the State Fellows Program. Such 
agency shall have a full-time staff and may be a di-
vision of the State’s education department, a coordi-
nating or governing board of higher education, an 
independent government agency, or a non-profit or-
ganization. Any such application shall be submitted 
to the Secretary at such time, and contain such in-
formation, as the Secretary shall require. 
‘‘(2) COMPETITIVE SELECTION.—From the ap-
plications submitted by State agencies, the Secretary 
shall approve those applications that the Secretary 
determines to be the most promising in carrying out 
the purposes of the Fellows Program. Each State 
whose application is selected by the Secretary to par-
ticipate in the Fellows Program shall receive funds 
to offer scholarships in an amount determined by 
the Secretary in light of the amount of the total ap-
propriation for the Fellows Program, the relative 
size of the State’s student population, and the fund-
ing necessary to administer a viable State Fellows 
Program. Such funds shall go to the State agency 
designated in subsection (c)(1).
‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE RECEIPT OF FED-
ERAL FUNDS.—Each State participating in the Fellows 
Program shall—
‘‘(1) provide information and assurances—
‘‘(A) identifying the institutions of higher 
education within the State, either private or 
public, that will participate in the Fellows Pro-
gram; 
‘‘(B) establishing specific, rigorous criteria 
to be used in selecting Teaching Fellows; 
‘‘(C) providing that the State will offer no 
less than $6,500 per year in scholarships to 
each Fellow, which shall be available—
‘‘(i) for each of 4 years of under-
graduate education, in the case of a Fellow 
who, at the time of application, was a high 
school senior; 
‘‘(ii) for the third and fourth year of 
undergraduate education, in the case of a 
Fellow who, at the time of application, was 
in his or her second year of undergraduate 
education; and 
‘‘(iii) for a fifth year of undergraduate 
education if such year is required in order 
to obtain a bachelor’s degree with a State 
license or certificate to teach; 
‘‘(D) providing that each participating in-
stitution will provide a full-time faculty member
or administrator to serve as the Fellows Pro-
gram director and to work closely with the 
State agency to administer the campus program 
and create and execute the extra-curricular en-
richment programs; 
‘‘(E) describing mandatory extra-curricular 
enrichment programs and activities as part of 
the State’s Fellows Program that—
‘‘(i) are designed to motivate students 
to become career educators; 
‘‘(ii) provide Teaching Fellows with a 
multidisciplinary education; 
‘‘(iii) are offered regularly during each 
year of schooling (including during inter-
vals between periods of enrollment); and 
‘‘(iv) expose Fellows to the State’s 
business, political, demographic, cultural, 
and economic climate and help Fellows de-
velop leadership qualities; and 
‘‘(F) establishing procedures for the dis-
tribution of scholarships and administration of 
service obligation oversight; 
‘‘(2) provide an assurance that the State agency 
and participating institutions shall, collectively, 
match the Federal funds provided under this section
by providing at least 25 percent of the total cost of 
the Fellows Program; 
‘‘(3) use funds received under this section only 
to supplement the amount of funds that would, in 
the absence of such Federal funds, be made avail-
able from non-Federal sources for the purposes of 
this section, and not to supplant such funds; and 
‘‘(4) provide an assurance that Teaching Fel-
lows fulfill their teaching commitments at United 
States public schools within that State only. 
‘‘(e) CONVERSION TO LOAN.—
‘‘(1) OBLIGATION
TO
REPAY.—The Fellows 
Program shall require that a Teaching Fellow agree 
to repay a pro rata amount, as determined by the 
State agency, of the scholarship received from the 
Fellows Program, and to pay interest on such pro 
rata amount at an annual rate of 10 percent until 
such pro rata amount is repaid, if the recipient fails 
to comply with one of the following: 
‘‘(A) Within 7 years after graduation the 
recipient of the scholarship teaches for 4 years 
at a public school. 
‘‘(B) Within 7 years after graduation the 
recipient teaches for 3 consecutive years, unless 
the recipient takes an approved leave of ab-
sence, at a public school that at the time the re-
cipient accepts employment is a low-performing 
school, as defined by State educational agency 
or the Secretary of Education. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 
apply if the State agency finds that it is impossible 
for the recipient to teach for 4 years, within 7 years 
after the recipient graduates, at a public school be-
cause of the death or permanent disability of the re-
cipient. 
‘‘(f) REVOLVING FUNDING.—Any funds repaid by a 
Teaching Fellow pursuant to subsection (e), together with 
any interest thereon, may be retained by the State agency 
for making available additional scholarships under this 
section, and for paying costs related to the disbursement 
of awards and the collection of payments under subsection 
(e). 
‘‘(g) FUNDS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 
to carry out this section $200,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 
and such sums as may be necessary for the 4 succeeding 
fiscal years. 
‘‘(h) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) FELLOWS PROGRAM.—The term ‘Fellows 
Program’ means the program established under this 
section.
‘‘(2) TEACHING FELLOWS.—The term ‘Teach-
ing Fellow’ means an individual selected for an 
award of financial assistance under this section. 
‘‘(3) STATE.—The term ‘State’ includes the 
several States, the District of Columbia, and the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 
‘‘(4) STATE AGENCY.—The term ‘State agency’ 
means the agency designated pursuant to subsection 
(c)(1). 
‘‘SEC. 212. TEACHING FELLOWS PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM. 
‘‘(a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en-
courage members of the education community, such as 
teaching assistants and other school employees who are 
not yet certified teachers, to obtain a degree in education. 
‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF PARTNERSHIP FELLOWS 
PROGRAM.—
‘‘(1) USE
OF
FUNDS
FOR
SCHOLARSHIPS.—
From the funds appropriated under subsection (h), 
the Secretary shall make grants available to States
for the purpose of establishing Partnership Pro-
grams between associate-degree-granting institutions 
and bachelor-degree-granting institutions. 
‘‘(2) SELECTION
OF
FELLOWS.—Partnership 
Fellows shall be selected from individuals who—
‘‘(A) are United States citizens or legal 
aliens; 
‘‘(B) are residents of the State sponsoring 
the partnership program to which they are ap-
plying; and 
‘‘(C) meet the criteria established under 
subsection (e)(1). 
‘‘(c) COMPETITION FOR FEDERAL FUNDS.—
‘‘(1) STATE
REVIEW
AND
SUBMISSION.—The 
governor of each State desiring to participate in the 
Partnership Program shall designate a single State 
education department, a coordinating or governing 
board of higher education, or other agency—
‘‘(A) to receive and review partnership pro-
posals from associate-degree-granting institu-
tions and bachelor-degree-granting institutions 
within the State; 
‘‘(B) to determine which proposals delin-
eate Partnership Programs to be created be-
tween associate-degree-granting institutions and 
bachelor-degree-granting institutions that are 
the most promising in carrying out the pur-
poses of this section; 
‘‘(C) to submit the partnership proposals 
that are approved by the State agency to the
Secretary for competitive selection in the form 
of one single partnership proposal application; 
and 
‘‘(D) to administer the funds available 
under this section. 
‘‘(2) COMPETITIVE
SELECTION.—From the 
partnership proposal applications submitted by State 
agencies under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 
select for funding under this section those applica-
tions that the Secretary determines to be the most 
promising in carrying out the purposes of the Part-
nership Program. The Secretary shall distribute the 
awards for each selected application to the State 
agency that submitted the application. 
‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE RECEIPT OF FED-
ERAL FUNDS.—A State agency that submits a partnership 
proposal application to the Secretary under subsection (c) 
shall provide to the Secretary such information and assur-
ances as the Secretary may require to demonstrate that 
the State will comply with the following requirements: 
‘‘(1) Any State whose partnership proposal ap-
plication is selected to receive Federal funds as au-
thorized by this section shall match the Federal 
funding by providing at least 25 percent of the total 
cost of the Partnership Program or Programs.
‘‘(2) The State agency may reserve up to 20 
percent of its Federal funding to be used for admin-
istrative costs associated with the creation of articu-
lation agreements between one or more associate-de-
gree-granting institutions and one or more bachelor-
degree-granting institutions that detail the partner-
ship arrangement between the institutions. Such re-
served administrative funds shall be made available 
to the Partnership institutions in order to support 
curricula alignment between the associate-degree 
granting institution’s and the bachelor-degree-grant-
ing institution’s requirements and to allow the Part-
nership institutions to sponsor extra-curricular ac-
tivities for its Fellows as specified in subsection 
(e)(3). 
‘‘(3) The State agency shall be responsible for 
determining how the funds provided under this sec-
tion are allocated among specific partnership pro-
posals or to administer the allocation of funds for an 
approved state-wide Partnership Program. 
‘‘(4) The State agency shall be responsible for 
assuring such funds are used to provide full-time 
Partnership Fellows with scholarships of no less 
than $6,500 per year, which shall be available for 
each of the four years of undergraduate education
remaining after the year of the Fellow’s selection, 
and for a fifth year of undergraduate education if 
such year is required in order to obtain a bachelor’s 
degree with a State license or certificate to teach. 
Partnership Fellows pursuing a part-time course 
load, as defined by the institution attended, shall re-
ceive a pro rata scholarship over a period not to ex-
ceed six years. The annual scholarship amount shall 
be a fraction of the full-time scholarship amount and 
shall be reduced according to the number of credits 
being pursued. Partnership Programs also may 
make scholarship funds available during the period 
of student teaching as prescribed by subsection 
(e)(6). 
‘‘(5) The State agency will use funds received 
under this section only to supplement the amount of 
funds that would, in the absence of such Federal 
funds, be made available from non-Federal sources 
for the purposes of this section, and not to supplant 
such funds. 
‘‘(e) REQUIREMENTS
FOR
PARTNERSHIP
PRO-
POSALS.—Each partnership proposal under this section 
shall be submitted by one or more associate-degree-grant-
ing institutions and one or more bachelor-degree-granting 
institutions and shall propose the establishment of a pro-
gram allowing individuals, such as those currently in the 
education field, to complete a bachelor’s degree with a 
State license or certification to teach. Such proposals shall 
include—
‘‘(1) identification of specific, rigorous criteria 
to be used in selecting Partnership Fellows, includ-
ing outstanding service to school-age children, a firm 
commitment to the field of education, and aptitude 
to succeed as a teacher; 
‘‘(2) designation of a full-time faculty member 
or administrator to serve as the local or regional 
Partnership Program director or coordinator and to 
work closely with the State agency director to ad-
minister the program and create and execute the 
extra-curricular enrichment programs; 
‘‘(3) mandatory extra-curricular enrichment 
programs and activities as part of the State’s Fel-
lows Program that—
‘‘(A) are designed to motivate students to 
become career educators;
‘‘(B) provide Fellows with a multidisci-
plinary education; 
‘‘(C) are offered regularly during each year 
of schooling (including during intervals between 
periods of enrollment); and
‘‘(D) expose Fellows to the State’s busi-
ness, political, demographic, cultural, and eco-
nomic climate and help Fellows develop leader-
ship qualities; 
‘‘(4) a specific description of how the proposed 
Partnership Program will provide individuals in 
rural or underserved communities access to the cur-
riculum and extracurricular opportunities created by 
the Partnership Program; 
‘‘(5) a description of how the program will ac-
commodate Partnership Fellows who must maintain 
employment while pursuing a degree, whether via 
distance learning methods, evening and weekend 
programs, minimum credit requirements, or other 
programs; 
‘‘(6) a description of how the program will as-
sist Partnership Fellows in accordance with sub-
section (d)(4) during the period of student teaching 
should they be otherwise financially unable to com-
plete such a requirement; and 
‘‘(7) an itemized account of how the funds will 
be allocated to best achieve the goals of the Partner-
ship Program. 
‘‘(f) CONVERSION TO LOAN.—
‘‘(1) OBLIGATION TO REPAY.—The Partnership 
Program shall require that a Partnership Fellow 
agree to repay a pro rata amount, as determined by 
the State agency, of the scholarship received from 
the Partnership Program, and to pay interest on 
such pro rata amount at an annual rate of 10 per-
cent until such pro rata amount is repaid, if the re-
cipient fails to comply with one of the following: 
‘‘(A) Within 7 years after graduation the 
recipient of the scholarship teaches for 4 years 
at a public school. 
‘‘(B) Within 7 years after graduation the 
recipient teaches for 3 consecutive years, unless 
the recipient takes an approved leave of ab-
sence, at a public school that at the time the re-
cipient accepts employment is a low-performing 
school, as defined by State educational agency 
or the Secretary of Education. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 
apply if the State agency finds that it is impossible 
for the recipient to teach for 4 years, within 7 years 
after the recipient graduates, at a public school be-
cause of the death or permanent disability of the re-
cipient.
‘‘(g) REVOLVING FUNDING.—Any funds repaid by a 
Teaching Fellow pursuant to subsection (f), together with 
any interest thereon, may be retained by the State agency 
for making available additional scholarships under this 
section, and for paying costs related to the disbursement 
of awards and the collection of payments under subsection 
(f). 
‘‘(h) FUNDS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 
to carry out this section $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2004 
and such sums as necessary for the 4 succeeding fiscal 
years. 
‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM.—the term ‘Part-
nership Program’ means the program established 
under this section. 
‘‘(2) 
PARTNERSHIP
FELLOWS.—The 
term 
‘Partnership Fellow’ means an individual selected 
for an award of financial assistance under this sec-
tion. 
‘‘(3) STATE.—The term ‘State’ includes the 
several States, the District of Columbia, and the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
‘‘(4) STATE AGENCY.—The term ‘State agency’ 
means the agency designated pursuant to subsection 
(c)(1).’’.
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