I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5583
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish an alternative
path to teaching in needy school districts.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 26, 2000
Mr. TIERNEY (for himself and Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California) introduced
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and
the Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish
an alternative path to teaching in needy school districts.
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 ‘‘Alternative Path to
Teaching Act’’.
SEC. 2. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to encourage highly knowledgeable individ-
uals to teach in needy school districts; and
(2) to provide them with strong support, espe-
cially during their initial years of teaching.
SEC. 3. ALTERNATIVE PATH TO TEACHING IN NEEDY
SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Higher Education
Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001 et seq.) is amended by in-
serting after section 203 the following:
‘‘SEC. 203A. ALTERNATIVE PATH TO TEACHING IN NEEDY
SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
‘‘(a) PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is author-
ized, in accordance with the provisions of this sec-
tion, to make grants, on a competitive basis, to
collaboratives satisfying the requirements of para-
graph (3) to carry out the purposes described in
subsection (b).
‘‘(2) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds re-
ceived under this section shall be used to supple-
ment, and not supplant, funds provided to a State,
a local educational agency, or any other person or
entity, under any other Federal or State program es-
tablished for the purpose of increasing the ability of
local educational agencies effectively to recruit highly
qualified teachers, such as funds provided under sec-
tion 204.
‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS ON COLLABORATIVES.—
‘‘(A) STATE LICENSING EXAMINATION.—In
order to receive a grant under this section, a
collaborative shall be established by one or more
local educational agencies in a State that re-
quires an individual to have passed a State
teacher licensing examination in order to obtain
State certification as a teacher.
‘‘(B) ESTABLISHMENT; REQUIRED
PAR-
TICIPANTS.—In order to be eligible for a grant
under this section, a collaborative shall be es-
tablished by one or more local educational agen-
cies and shall have a membership that includes
at least one representative from each of the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(i) The local educational agency or
agencies establishing the collaborative, and
any other local educational agency that de-
sires to participate.
‘‘(ii) Institutions of higher education
that are—
‘‘(I) selected by the local edu-
cational agency or agencies estab-
lishing the collaborative;
‘‘(II) not rated by any State as
being low performing; and
‘‘(III) in compliance with all ap-
plicable provisions of this Act.
‘‘(iii) Any additional entity—
‘‘(I) selected by the entities de-
scribed in clauses (i) and (ii); and
‘‘(II) deemed by such entities—
‘‘(aa) to be of assistance
with recruiting, training, or plac-
ing teachers from diverse back-
grounds in eligible schools; and
‘‘(bb) to have a record of
providing high quality and effec-
tive professional development to
teachers in eligible schools.
‘‘(4) APPLICATIONS.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each collaborative de-
siring to receive a grant under this section shall
prepare and submit an application to the Sec-
retary at such time and in such a manner as
the Secretary deems appropriate.
‘‘(B) WRITTEN
STATEMENT
OF
SUP-
PORT.—Such application shall include a written
statement of support, cooperation, and inten-