I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1742
To make scholarships available to individuals who are outstanding secondary
school graduates or exceptional certified leaders and who demonstrate
a commitment to and capacity for the profession of teaching, in order
to enable and encourage those individuals to pursue teaching careers
in education at the preschool, elementary or secondary level or improve
their teaching skills through further education, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MAY 7, 2001
Mrs. WILSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and the Workforce
A BILL
To make scholarships available to individuals who are out-
standing secondary school graduates or exceptional cer-
tified leaders and who demonstrate a commitment to
and capacity for the profession of teaching, in order
to enable and encourage those individuals to pursue
teaching careers in education at the preschool, elemen-
tary or secondary level or improve their teaching skills
through further education, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
(b) USE OF CENSUS DATA.—For the purpose of this
section, the number of persons in a State and in all States
shall be determined by the most recently available data
from the Bureau of the Census.
SEC. 104. GRANT APPLICATIONS.
(a) SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary
is authorized to make grants to States in accordance with
the provisions of this title. In order to receive a grant
under this title, a State shall submit an application at
such time or times, in such manner, and containing such
information as the Secretary may prescribe by regulation.
Such application shall set forth a program of activities for
carrying out the purposes set forth in section 102 in such
detail as will enable the Secretary to determine the degree
to which such program will accomplish the purposes and
requirements of this title.
(b) CONTENT
OF APPLICATIONS.—The Secretary
shall approve an application under this Act only if the
application—
(1) describes the procedures to be used by the
State in the selection of scholarship recipients under
this Act;
(2) designates as the State agency responsible
for administering the grants received under this Act
the State agency which administers the program
under subpart 4 of part A of title IV of the Higher
Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1070c et seq.)
(relating to the leveraging educational assistance
partnership program), the State agency with which
the Secretary has an agreement under section
428(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20
U.S.C. 1078), or another appropriate State agency
approved by the Secretary;
(3) describes the outreach effort the State
agency intends to use to publicize the availability of
21st Century Teaching Scholarships to secondary
school students and certified teachers in the State,
making particular efforts to attract qualified appli-
cants from low-income backgrounds; ethnic and ra-
cial minorities; individuals with disabilities; individ-
uals who express a willingness or desire to teach in
schools having less than average academic results or
serving large numbers of economically disadvantaged
students; or women or minorities who intend to pur-
sue teaching careers in mathematics and science and
who are underrepresented in such fields;
(4) describes how the State will inform recipi-
ents, upon receipt of the award, of current and pro-
jected teacher shortages and surpluses within the
State;
(5) provides assurances that each recipient eli-
gible under section 6(b) of this Act who receives a
21st Century Teaching Scholarship shall enter into
an agreement with the State agency under which the
recipient shall—
(A) within the 10-year period after com-
pleting the postsecondary education for which
the 21st Century Teaching Scholarship was
awarded, teach in the State for a period of not
less than 2 years, on a full-time basis, for each
year for which full-time assistance was received
or 1 year for each year for which part-time as-
sistance was received, but not to exceed 6 years
for any recipient, in a public, or public charter,
preschool, elementary, or secondary school ex-
cept that, in the case of individuals who teach
in a shortage area established by the Secretary
pursuant to section 12, the requirements of this
subparagraph shall be reduced by one-half;
(B) provide the State agency evidence of
compliance with section 7 as required by the
State agency; and
(C) repay all or part of a 21st Century
Teaching Scholarship received under section 5
plus interest and, if applicable, reasonable col-
lection fees, in compliance with regulations
issued by the Secretary under section 8, in the
event that the conditions of subparagraph (A)
are not complied with, except as provided for
in section 9;
(6) provides that the agreement entered into
with recipients shall fully disclose the terms and con-
ditions under which assistance under this Act is pro-
vided and under which repayment may be required,
including—
(A) a description of the procedures re-
quired to be established under paragraph (7);
and
(B) a description of the appeals procedures
required to be established under paragraph (8)
under which a recipient may appeal a deter-
mination of noncompliance with any provision
under this Act;
(7) provides for procedures under which a re-
cipient of assistance received under this Act who
teaches for less than the period required under para-
graph (5)(A) will have the repayment requirements
reduced or eliminated consistent with the provisions
of sections 8 and 9;
(8) provides for appeals procedures under which
a recipient may appeal any determination of non-
compliance with any provision under this Act; and
(9) provides assurances that the selection panel
makes scholarship awards based solely on the selec-
tion criteria in section 6.
(c) SELECTION
PROCEDURES.—The State edu-
cational agency, in cooperation with the State higher edu-
cation agency, and pursuant to scholarship selection cri-
teria included in section 106, shall establish procedures
to select 21st Century Teaching Scholarship recipients.
These procedures shall be intended to attract highly quali-
fied individuals into teaching, to ensure that these stu-
dents are enrolled or are accepted for enrollment in ap-
proved teacher education programs, and to meet the
present and projected needs of States in addressing teach-
er shortages, including—
(1) the demand for and supply of early child-
hood and elementary teachers in the State;
(2) the demand for and supply of secondary
teachers in the State;
(3) the demand for and supply of teachers with
training in specific academic disciplines in the State;
(4) the demand for and supply of teachers of
students with disabilities in the State;
(5) the demand for and supply of teachers for
limited English proficient students in the State;
(6) the demand for and supply of teachers for
preschool age children in the State; and
(7) the demand for and supply of teachers in
geographic areas of the State where there is a dem-
onstrated shortage of qualified teachers.
(d) SOLICITATION OF VIEWS ON SELECTION PROCE-
DURES.—In developing the selection procedures to be used
by the State, the State shall solicit the views of teachers,
the public, teacher education programs, local educational
agencies, private educational institutions, and other inter-
ested parties. Such views—
(1) shall be solicited by means of—
(A) written comments; and
(B) publication of proposed procedures in
final form for implementation; and
(2) may be solicited by means of—
(A) public hearings on the teaching needs
of elementary and secondary schools in the
State (including the number of new teachers
needed, the expected supply of new teachers,
and the shortages in the State of teachers with
specific preparation); or