I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 826
To authorize the appropriation of funds to be used to recruit, hire, and 
train 100,000 new classroom paraprofessionals in order to improve edu-
cational achievement for children. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 15, 2005
Mr. SERRANO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To authorize the appropriation of funds to be used to recruit, 
hire, and train 100,000 new classroom paraprofessionals 
in order to improve educational achievement for children.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Paraprofessionals are not substitutes for 
certified teachers. 
(2) Small class size is fundamental to all learn-
ing, but particularly in the early grades.
(3) Putting more adults in the classroom helps 
to increase the attention paid to each student and to 
improve discipline. 
(4) Expanding the availability of entry-level 
classroom jobs that include opportunities for train-
ing and professional development should encourage 
more adults to enter teacher training and careers in 
education. 
SEC. 2. FUNDS FOR RECRUITING, HIRING, AND TRAINING 
PARAPROFESSIONALS. 
(a) STATE ALLOCATIONS.—From the amount appro-
priated to carry out this Act for each fiscal year, the Sec-
retary of Education—
(1) shall make available 1 percent of such 
amount to the Secretary of the Interior (on behalf 
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs) and the outlying 
areas for activities under this Act; and 
(2) shall allocate the remainder by providing 
each State the same percentage of that remainder as 
it received of the funds allocated to States under 
section 306(a)(2) of the Departments of Labor, 
Health and Human Services, and Education, and 
Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, as en-
acted by section 1(a)(1) of Public Law 106–554.
(b) LOCAL AGENCY ALLOCATIONS.—Each State that 
receives funds under this Act shall distribute 100 percent 
of such funds to local educational agencies, of which—
(1) 80 percent of such amount shall be allo-
cated to local educational agencies in proportion to 
the number of children, aged 5 to 17, who reside in 
the school district served by a local educational 
agency from families with incomes below the poverty 
line (as defined by the Office of Management and 
Budget and revised annually in accordance with sec-
tion 673(2) of the Community Services Block Grant 
Act (42 U.S.C. 9902(2))) applicable to a family of 
the size involved for the most recent fiscal year for 
which satisfactory data are available compared to 
the number of such individuals who reside in the 
school districts served by all the local educational 
agencies in the State for that fiscal year; and 
(2) 20 percent of such amount shall be allo-
cated to local educational agencies in accordance 
with the relative enrollments of children, aged 5 to 
17, in public and private nonprofit elementary and 
secondary schools within the boundaries of such 
agencies. 
(c) USES OF FUNDS.—
(1) PURPOSE.—The basic purpose and intent of 
this Act is to decrease the ratio of students to per-
sonnel in public elementary and secondary school 
classrooms by assisting local educational agencies in 
the recruitment, hiring, and training of 100,000 new 
classroom paraprofessionals. Each local educational 
agency that receives funds under this Act shall use 
such funds to carry out effective approaches to 
achieving such ratio reductions in order to improve 
educational achievement for both regular and special 
needs children, with particular consideration given to 
making such reductions in the early elementary 
grades. 
(2) RECRUITMENT, HIRING, AND TRAINING.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Each local educational 
agency that receives funds under this Act—
(i) may use up to 100 percent of the 
funds under this Act for recruiting (includ-
ing through the use of signing bonuses and 
other financial incentives), hiring, and 
training paraprofessionals to assist teach-
ers, including teachers employed in bilin-
gual education, special education, and mi-
grant education; and
(ii) may use up to 25 percent of the 
funds under this Act—
(I) for providing professional de-
velopment (which may include such 
activities as those described in section 
2210 of the Elementary and Sec-
ondary Education Act of 1965 (as in 
effect on the day before the date of 
the enactment of the No Child Left 
Behind Act of 2001 (Pub. L. 107–
110; 115 Stat. 1425)), opportunities 
for paraprofessionals to attend multi-
week institutes, such as those made 
available during the summer months, 
that provide intensive professional de-
velopment in partnership with local 
educational agencies, and initiatives 
that promote retention and men-
toring), to paraprofessionals, includ-
ing 
paraprofessionals 
who 
assist 
teachers employed in bilingual edu-
cation, special education, and migrant 
education; or 
(II) to provide assistance to new 
and existing paraprofessionals to en-
sure that such individuals are highly 
qualified consistent with the require-
ments of subsections (c) and (d) of 
section 1119 of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 6319). 
(B) SPECIAL RULE.—In the case of a local 
educational agency that has already reduced the 
ratio of students to instructional personnel in 
grades kindergarten through 3 to 18 or less (or 
has already reduced such ratio to a State or 
local goal that was in effect on the day before 
the enactment of the Departments of Labor, 
Health and Human Services, and Education, 
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 
(Pub. L. 106–554; 114 Stat. 2763), if that 
State or local educational agency goal is 20 or 
less) may use 100 percent of the funds received 
under this Act—
(i) to make further student-to-per-
sonnel ratio reductions in grades kinder-
garten through 3; 
(ii) to reduce the student-to-personnel 
ratio in other grades;
(iii) to carry out activities to improve 
paraprofessional quality, including profes-
sional development; or 
(iv) to assist paraprofessionals to ob-
tain the education necessary to become li-
censed and certified teachers. 
(3) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Each local 
educational agency that receives funds under this 
Act shall use such funds only to supplement, and not 
to supplant, State and local funds that, in the ab-
sence of funds under this Act, would otherwise be 
spent for activities under this Act. 
(4) LIMITATION.—No funds made available 
under this Act may be used to increase the salaries 
or provide benefits, other than participation in pro-
fessional development, education, or enrichment pro-
grams, to paraprofessionals who are not hired under 
this Act. 
(d) REPORTING.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State receiving funds 
under this Act shall submit to the Secretary on a bi-
ennial basis a report containing data on the use of 
funds, the types of services furnished, and the stu-
dents served under this Act.
(2) REPORTS TO PARENTS.—Each State and 
local educational agency receiving funds under this 
Act shall publicly report to parents on its progress 
in decreasing the ratio of students to personnel in el-
ementary and secondary school classrooms by re-
cruiting, hiring, and training paraprofessionals and 
on the impact such activities have had, if any, on in-
creasing student academic achievement. 
(3) DISCLOSURE
OF
QUALIFICATIONS.—Each 
school receiving funds under this Act shall provide 
to parents, upon request, the qualifications of each 
member of their child’s classroom instructional staff. 
(e) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—A local educational 
agency that receives funds under this Act may use not 
more than 2 percent of such funds for local administrative 
costs. 
(f) APPLICATION.—Each local educational agency 
that desires to receive funds under this Act shall include 
in the application required under section 5133 of the Ele-
mentary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
7215b) a description of the agency’s program to reduce 
the ratio of students to personnel in elementary and sec-
ondary school classrooms by recruiting, hiring, and train-
ing paraprofessionals. 
(g) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this Act:
(1) The term ‘‘paraprofessional’’ means an indi-
vidual who is employed in a public elementary or 
secondary school under the supervision of a certified 
or licensed teacher, including individuals employed 
in bilingual education, special education, and mi-
grant education. 
(2) The term ‘‘local educational agency’’ has 
the meaning given to that term in section 9101 of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 
(3) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of Education. 
(4) The term ‘‘State’’ is defined as that term 
is used in section 306(a)(2) of the Departments of 
Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, 
and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001, as 
enacted by section 1(a)(1) of Public Law 106–554. 
(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 
out this Act, there is authorized to be appropriated 
$1,000,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006 through 
2010.
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